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The 

Life and Speeches 

OF 

Thomas Wilhams 

Orator, Statesman and Jurist 

1806-1872 

A Founder of the Whig and Republican Parties 

By 

BURTON ALVA KONKLE 

Author of 
" Tlie Life and Times of Thomas Smith, ly^^-iSog" 

Formerly associated with the Historical Work of the Pennsylvania 

Bar Association, and Member of the Pennsylvania Historical 

Society and American Historical Association 

With an Introduction by 

HON. PHILANDER CHASE KNOX, LL. D. 

United States Senator from Pennsylvania 



Volume I 



CAMPION & COMPANY 

PHILADELPHIA 
19 5 



OCT 28 19U5 
; XI f 97- 






Copyrighted, 1905 
Burton Alva Konkle 



^ 



TO 

my father 

Simon Kenton Konkle 

1836-1905 



Contents 



Preface. 

Introduction by Hon. Philander C. Knox, LL.D. 

Chapter I. His Forefathers Near the Chesapeake and 

Susquehanna and What They Hear of 
"The Gateway to the Great West." 1785 I 

Chapter H. His Youth Amidst His Books and the His- 
toric Hills and Forests of Old West- 
moreland. 1806 14 

Chapter HI. Learning, Oratory and, Incidentally, Love 
at the Mountain College Founded by 
President Dickinson at Carlisle. Class 
of 1825 22 

Chapter IV. He Studies Law Under Two Prospective Jus- 
tices of the Supreme Court — Congress- 
man Coulter, of Greensburgh, and John 
Kennedy, of Pittsburgh, and Is Admitted 
at Both Places. 1825 34 

Chapter V. Pittsburgh and Politics. A New Unknown 
Force in tlie Press. He Goes to Wash- 
ington to Protest to President Jackson 
Against the Removal of Deposits from 
the United States Bank. 1832 45 

Chapter VI. The Rising Leader of the Whigs and Editor 
of Their Organ — "The Advocate." The 
Great Campaign of 1834 62 

Chapter VII. The Whig Fight Against the Anti-Mason 
Candidate for State Senator. Williams' 
Notable Oration of July 4, 1835 "j-j 

Chapter VIII. The Great Anti-Jackson and Whig Move- 
ments in Pennsylvania. Change in State 
Constitution and Election of Williams to 
the State Senate. 1836 93 

Chapter IX. "The Buckshot War" at Harrisburg and His 

Services in the Senate. 1838 107 



Chapter X. His Notable Eulogy on President William 
Henry Harrison Before the Legislature 
of Pennsylvania on April 17, 1841 145 

Chapter XI. Events Leading to the Disastrous Whig Cam- 
paign of '44, Which Causes Him to 
Abandon Politics. His Great Tariff 
Speech in Pittsburgh, 1841 174 

Chapter XH. A Decade of Private Practice, Near the Close 
of Which He Renews His Long War 
Against Municipal Subscription to Rail- 
ways. 1844 221 

Chapter XHL Aroused by the Repeal of the Missouri Com- 
promise, He Becomes a Founder of the 
Republican Party and a National Com- 
mitteeman in '56. He Writes the Call 
for the Chicago Convention which Nomi- 
nated Lincoln. His War Against Munici- 
pal Subscription to Railways Produces an 
Amendment to the Constitution. 1855.. 293 



Illustrations 

I. Frontispiece, Thomas Williams in 1830. From ^ 

a Bridport miniature. 
II Map Showing the Region of the Headwaters of 
the Chesapeake. After map in Johnstons 

"Cecil County" 

III. Thomas Williams, Sr. From a small painting. . 4 ' 

IV The Williams Home at Greensburgh. Drawn 

under the direction of Miss S. D. Williams. . 12 ' 

V. West College (Dickinson College), Carlisle. 

From a photograph ""* 

VI. Justice Richard Coulter. From an engraving by 

Bather -^J 

VII. Justice John Kennedy. From a painting 3« ' 

VHI. Mrs. Robert Williams. From a painting by ^ 

Lambdin 

IX. Map of the United States in 1827. From a con- 

temporary atlas 

X. Map of Pittsburgh in 1830, by Barbeau and ^^ 

Keyon 

XI. The First Pittsburgh Court House.^^ From John- 
ston's "Life and Reminiscences" 5° ' 

XII. Map Showing the Presidential Vote of Penn- 
sylvania in 1828, by Counties 52 

XIII. Map Showing the Presidential Vote of Penn- 

sylvania in 1832, by Counties 54 

XIV. The White House in 1833 • • • 5 

XV. William Wilkins about 1830. From a painting ^ 

by Bowman 

XVI The National Capitol as Viewed from the 

White House in Jackson's Time. From a lith- ^^ 

ograph by Currier 

XVII. President Andrew Jackson. From a Bisbee print 62 

XVIII. The United States Bank in 1831. From an 

1 ^^.,,„;v,<T Kv Burton ^4 



en: 



graved drawing by Burton 



XIX. "Explosion of Biddle & Go's Congress Water 
Fount." A Downing cartoon of the United 

States Bank War, in 1834 66 

XX. Neville B. Craig about 1840. From a painting 

by Lambdin 72 

XXI. Letter of Daniel Webster on his Presidential 

Candidacy, 1835 (a part) 94 

XXII. Charles Bingham Penrose at About Thirty-five 

Years of Age. From a painting by Officer no 

XXIII. The Capitol at Harrisburg. From a litho- 

graphed daguerreotype of 1855, by J. T. 
Williams 112. 

XXIV. Map Showing Canals and Railroads in Pennsyl- 

vania in 1839. After a map by Tanner.... 128. 
XXV. Map Showing Distribution of Population in 

the United States in 1840 134 

XXVI. Hand-bill of Harrison Campaign of 1840. 

Written by Mr. Williams 136 

XXVII. "The Almighty Lever," a campaign cartoon of 

1840, by Childs 138 

XXVIII. Map Showing the Presidential Vote of Penn- 
sylvania in 1840. by Counties 140 

XXIX. President William Henry Harrison in 1841. 

From an engraving by Sartain 146 

XXX. Letter of Henry Clay on His Presidential Can- 
didacy, 1843 (a part) 178 

XXXI. "Sold for Want of Use," a Baillie cartoon of the 

Campaign in 1844 210 

XXXII. Horace Greeley. From a contemporary pho- 
tograph by Brady 294 

XXXIIL Musical Fund Hall. Philadelphia. Where the 
First National Republican Convention Was 
Held in 1856 (exterior). From a photograph 296 

XXXIV. The Same (interior) 297 

XXXV. David Wilmot. From a lithograph by Traubel 298 

XXXVI. John C. Fremont. From a photograph 300 

XXXVII. Map Showing the Presidential Vote in Penn- 
sylvania in 1856, by Counties 302 

XXXVIII. Mr. Williams as First National Republican 
Committeeman. From a painting by Lamb- 
din about 1854 304 



Preface 

A foreword to these volumes would hardly be possible 
without first expressing to historical students the author's 
grateful appreciation of most generous recognition given 
to his previous work — "The Life and Times of Thomas 
Smith, 1 745-1809, a Pennsylvania Member of the Con- 
tinental Congress." For the present work grew out of 
essentially the same conditions, is characterized by 
practically the same method, and is issued in a style 
uniform with that volume. Since these conditions and 
that method have been explained in the previous preface, 
they need only be referred to here ; and since this men- 
tion of the work can hardly be avoided, it is a fortunate 
circumstance, thoroughly appreciated by the author, 
that it can be accompanied by his expression of grati- 
tude for a generous recognition from so high sources. 

The location of the papers of Thomas Williams, 1806- 
1872, a founder of the Whig and Republican parties, and 
the fresh light they cast on the great period from Jackson 
to Grant, led the author into the preparation of the pres- 
ent work ; and chiefly because Williams was an orator 
of widely recognized culture and power, among a gener- 
ation now all but past, whose speeches, at the various 
crises in a period of almost forty years of public life, if 
taken consecutively and in their appropriate setting, 
are in themselves eloquent and vivid contemporary 
history of every step in that wonderful period — carrying 
in them its very atmosphere. The importance thus 
attached to his addresses necessitated two volumes, in 
which, it may be noted in passing, the pages are num- 
bered continuously, with the entire index in the second 
and the tables of contents and illustrations appropriately 
divided between them. 

While it is impossible to note all the courtesies ex- 
tended to the author during the long preparation of this 



work, the constant helpfulness and aid in the use of the 
Williams collection by the Misses Williams of Philadel- 
phia cannot be overlooked. Nor can the cordial sym- 
pathy and interest of Senator Philander C. Knox, so 
sincerely evidenced in the introduction, which follows, 
as well as in his many friendly assurances, be omitted. 
It is a pleasure also to recognize the helpful conferences 
with Justice George Shiras, Jr., formerly of the National 
Supreme Court, Judge Hawkins, Mrs. Darlington, and 
President McCandless of Pittsburgh; Judge M. Russell 
Thayer, Colonel A. K. McClure, Henry Pemberton, 
Esq., Senator Penrose and Sydney George Fisher, Esq., 
of Philadelphia, and Justice Wylie of Washington, D. C. 
The kindnesses of Librarian Anderson of the Carnegie 
Library, Pittsburgh, Librarian Graham of the Mercan- 
tile Library at Knoxville, Chief Roberts of the Bureau 
of Prints and Chief Ford of the Manuscript Division of 
the Congressional Library, Librarian Montgomery and 
Mr. Kelker of the State Library at Harrisburg, ofificers 
of the New York Historical Society and Astor Library 
at New York, officers of the Dauphin County Historical 
Society at Harrisburg, the Philadelphia Library, and 
especially the Pennsylvania Historical Society — m 
which latter Miss Leech has been particularly helpful — , 
Mr. Potter of the Potter Title and Trust Company of 
Pittsburgh, Mr. Lewis Greene of the Supreme Court 
Prothonotary's office and Mr. Keene, the well-known 
photographer at Harrisburg, have all been warmly ap- 
preciated. 

Before closing, it may be well to state, in illustration 
of the author's purely historical purposes, that as this 
life and speeches of an aggressive Whig and Republican 
issues from the press, he is finishing the manuscript of 
the life and work of a conservative Democratic leader 
of almost exactly the same period. 

BURTON ALVA KONKLE. 
Swarthmore, 27 July, 1905. 



Introduction 

American history has taken on a new meaning and 
importance in the last decade, with the rise of the United 
States to its new position among the world powers. Con- 
temporary with this, too, has been widespread activity 
in the exercise of a new method in the writing of history, 
namely, that known as the scientific method, which em- 
phasizes original documents and sources. The new 
method has not only been applied to the nation, but has 
also been applied, in varying degrees, to the great Com- 
monwealths, whose individual histories have partaken of 
the new meaning and importance acquired by that of the 
nation. 

That Pennsylvania has from the beginning had a place 
of the first significance and importance in the history of 
our country is known to all ; but that she has had a most 
complex, highly significant, and interesting, as well as 
profitable, individual history is known, in its full extent 
at least, only to students of her original documents and 
sources. It is a commonly held opinion of many of these 
students that there is a wealth of these sources of the 
greatest importance still practically untouched, and the 
work of many of them tends to confirm that opinion. 
Among such works is the "Life and Times of Judge 
Smith, 1745-1809," by the author of the present volumes 
— a book that illuminates with peculiar justice the growth 
of all of the Commonwealth, east, west, north and south, 
as well as certain elements in national history itself, for 
the period it covers, and especially by bringing the reader 
directly in contact with original sources. The book has 
deservedly won recognition from some of the highest 
historical critics. 

The author's aim seems to be, because of the extent of 
the historical field in Pennsylvania, to select a series of 
important movements in a certain period — important both 



provincially and nationally — and, after choosing some 
character that was prominent in them, present the reader 
to original sources, under the form of a "Life and Times" 
or "Life and Speeches" of the individual chosen. In his 
Judge Smith are the movements centering about the long 
contest over the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, which 
instrument was characterized chiefly by the feature of a 
single branch Legislature. In the present volumes — 
"The Life and Speeches of Thomas Williams, 1806-1872. 
a Founder of the Whigand Republican Parties" — he takes 
a later period and a somewhat modified method. Mr. 
Williams, who died the year before the present writer 
made his home in Pittsburgh and who was known to him 
only by reputation, was an eminent lawyer, but more par- 
ticularly an orator of considerable culture and power. 
He became a spokesman of one element of public opinion 
from the time of the uprising against President Jackson, 
in the crusade against the United States Bank, and so 
continued until nearly the close of his life, a period of 
about forty years. In consequence he represents the 
Whig and Republican movements, culminating with the 
impeachment of President Johnson, of which he was a 
leading manager — in a striking manner in some of his 
leading orations and speeches. He was an orator of the 
old school and his addresses carry the atmosphere of the 
contests of his time. He was a leader of certain popular 
movements, also, notably that against municipal sub- 
scription to railways, and his addresses on these are very 
informing. He was a fearless and independent thinker, 
a unique mingling of the jurist and propagandist, 
eloquent and learned, and withal a man and citizen of 
the purest motives and character. A leader of the 
Whigs, he became the first Pennsylvania member of the 
Republican National Executive Committee. His services 
in the two branches of the Legislature and in Congress 
were of the first order. His addresses have been made 
an integral part of the story. 

Such studies as this serve to make the present gener- 
ation appreciate more fully both the problems of previous 
generations and our own. The first-hand views of those 
times, resulting from the author's method, give a vivid- 
ness and reality to the past and a consequent sense of its 
continuity with the present that are both most helpful. 



The author's method also does not provide for the ex- 
pression of his own opinions, but rather presents the 
material uoon which the reader himself may form his 
iudcrments* The author presents his story, but without 
advocacy. The man, the fact and the event speak for 

^'^"^^^^^^" PHILANDER C. KNOX. 

Valley Forge, July 17, 1905- 



CHAPTER I 

His Forefathers Near the Chesapeake and Susque- 
hanna AND What They Hear of "The 
Gateway to the Great West" 

1785 

Not all who settled in the beautiful landscapes at the 
head of the Chesapeake's waters, in the days of the Penns 
and the Baltimores, knew they had chosen the tidewater 
landing nearest to the picturesque amphitheatre at the 
headwaters of La Belle Riviere, Ohio, beyond the moun- 
tains, although those forks were the key to solitudes so 
vast and rich as to be counted by many an explorer the 
promised land of all the world. Those who had the vision 
of a general both knew it and were concerned about it, 
and that, too, right early. The Ohio Company, with their 
line of storehouses and forts along the trails beyond the 
Potomac passes, were among the concerned, and when 
young Washington widened some of those paths for his 
swivel guns, it became evident that both the colonial and 
Crown governments had also become vitally concerned in 
this being the nearest approach. Thereafter probably 
few about the blue waters of the Chesapeake but were 
conscious of the cloud, no larger than a man's hand, ever 
rising at the mouth of the Monongahela and threatening 
them, down even to the days of the passing of both the 
Penns and Baltimores. 

Nor did all those who came to that rich region, of 
about a score or so of miles at the head of the Chesa- 
peake, between the Susquehanna and the Delaware, know 
whether they were in the dominion of Quaker or Catholic. 
Neither the Unes between Penn's New Castle County 
and the Cecil County of Lord Baltimore, nor again be- 
tween the latter and Penn's Chester County on the north, 
had yet been run, and both proprietors granted lands 



2 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

in all three counties unwittingly at times, before the days 
of Mason and Dixon or the arc-and-tangent lines of Dela- 
ware. So when Penn granted the Welsh a tract west- 
ward of New Castle, almost to the banks of the Elk River, 
and likewise granted the Friends some sections called the 
Nottingham Lots, a few miles northwestward toward the 
Susquehanna, the planters little dreamed that they were 
in Lord Baltimore's Cecil County.^ Nor did the many 
Welsh Presbyterians who bought land in the first tract, 
nor the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians who purchased Not- 
tingham land, realize it fully until Alason and Dixon 
made it clear and final in 1767. 

Amidst these uncertainties, however, nearly all knew 
beyond the possibility of a doubt that the liberty of con- 
science and freedom of thought, for which Penn's colo- 
nies were famous, would here be assured to them, as well 
as freedom of education, which always followed in Presby- 
terian and other communities that emphasized education. 
From the time that Henry Reynolds, an original owner 
of one of the Nottingham Lots or tracts, was said to have 
made the beginnings of the village of Rising Sun, the 
settlement of planters which grew up about it, and which 
was so largely Presbyterian, was destined to be peculiarly 
fortunate in these respects. A prosperous church stood 
on the brow of the hill, just northwest of the village, 
which attracted the great preacher Whitefield, and his 
burning eloquence and new truth caused such an increase 
in numbers and such a division in regard to the new 
teachings, that, in 1741, a second church was built "in 
the meadow across the brook," just west of the old 
one. This latter was destined to have a mighty influence, 
not only upon its immediate community, in stamping 
upon it belief in the highest standards of classical educa- 
tion, but on all the middle colonies where the name of its 
great pastor and the school he organized there left their 
impress. It was in 1744 that Rev. Samuel Finley became 
their leader and soon founded Nottingham Academy near 
at hand when he was scarcely thirty years of age.- He 

• Map in Johnston's "History of Cecil County, Maryland," 1881. 
^ Maclean's "History of the College of New Jersey," 1S77, Vol. I, p. 278, 
and Johnston's "Cecil County," p. 278. 



V \ oZL^^J^^^_ 




HIS FOREFATHERS AND THE WEST 3 

had been educated in the old "Log College," out of which 
sprang Princeton, and for the next seventeen years there 
grew up under the inspiration of his personality men like 
Dr. Benjamin Rush, Rev. Dr. John Ewing, Governor 
Martin, of North Carolina; Governor Henry, of Mary- 
land; Colonel John Bayard, Rev. Dr. W. M. Tennent, 
of Pennsylvania; Rev. Dr. James Waddell, of Virginia, 
and others of like character. His fame as an educator 
was such that by 1759 he was thought of for the fourth 
president of the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, 
of which he was a trustee, and two years later he was 
spontaneously acknowledged to be the man to head the 
chief educational institution of the Presbyterians in the 
American colonies as its fifth president— the last before 
Witherspoon — and thereafter Nottingham Academy was 
without the founder who had made it one of the most 
celebrated schools of its day. 

Of such a settlement of planters, dominated by the 
high value set on classical education, Robert Williams, 
merchant and planter, became a part in the years before 
the Revolution. Of his antecedents, however, so little is 
known it can only be affirmed that he is the first known of 
his family, and was believed by his grandson to have 
been of Welsh blood.^ Of Robert's brother, Captain 
Richard Williams, it is known that he was a soldier of 
the Revolution as early as 1777, at Germantown, and 
became one of the early settlers in the upper Ligonier 
Valley, eastward of Pittsburgh, not far from General St. 
Clair's home, in the days when it was necessary for him 
to build a blockhouse on his land on Four-Mile Run, then 
and long afterwards known as "Fort Williams."^ Robert 

1 It is possible that his parents were Robert and Catherine \Villiams, who 
lived in or near Charlestown as early as January, 1747, five years after the town 
was founded, and held a mortgage on lot No. 108 when this was the trading 
town for that region. His will, also among the records at Elkton, Md., dated 
September 26, 1765, bequeaths a Charlestown lot and other property to a son, 
Robert, and names his wife Catherine and son Thomas as executors. The per- 
sistence of these family names makes it possible, though not conclusive. As 
early as June 13, 1751, there is record of a Robert Williams as "Deputy Ranger 
there. Some have suggested that the Williams family were Scotch-Irish, but 
there seems to appear no confirmation of it. 

2 Exact data of Captain Williams' military record is not obtainable. Some 
ancestor of Robert's grandson was in that battle, according to a speech in the 
Pennsylvania Legislative Record for 1S61, p. 93, and family tradition makes that 
one Captain Richard. Albert's "History of Westmoreland County, Pennsyl- 
vania," 1882, p. 716, shows that he was well known as Captain Williams and promi- 
nent in that region. The archives of the Record and Pension Office of the War 



4 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

therefore, early became interested in the region of the 
source of the Ohio, but he remained as the head of one of 
the well-known families in Cecil County in the days when 
old Charlestown was its trading and post port. He had 
married Esther Meek, a daughter of an influential family, 
and of their family Catherine, Esther, Thomas, Richard 
and Robert, Jr., the youngest, will enlist the chief 
interest, although it must be noted that in succeeding 
years the elder brother, Thomas, took his father's place 
as a prominent planter in the region of Rising Sun, 
where, in 1803, he became one of the eight commissioners 
authorized to conduct a lottery as a means to more 
effectively unite the two old Nottingham churches, 
separated since the days of Whitefield, by securing them 
a new house of worship.^ 

Robert, Jr., who was born some time after 1773, 
lost his mother within the next dozen years, for it is 
known that his father was married about the 28th of 
February, 1786, to Mary, a sister of Major Abraham Kirk- 
patrick, who was "as brave a man," says Neville B. Craig, 
the Pittsburgh historian, "as drew his sw^ord in the strug- 
gle for independence."- A few months before this mar- 
riage, Major Kirkpatrick and his friend and prospective 
brother-in-law, Robert WilHams, Sr., made a visit to 
the region of the headwaters of the Ohio, the objective 
of the Major being Pittsburgh, where his old colonel and 
brother-in-law, John Neville, had lived for many years, 
and that of Mr. Williams being the home of "Capt. 
Rich'd Williams, in Ligonier Valley, on the glade road."^ 
The one was destined to himself become a notable resi- 



Department show him to have been a captain in the First Battalion, Westmoreland 
County, Pennsylvania Troops, on August i6, 1777. and also to have been, from 
February 10 to March 10, 1778, a captain in Colonel Alexander Bar's detachment 
of Westmoreland militia in an expedition to the Indian country. Dr. John W. 
Jordan is authority for the statement that the Westmoreland troops were at 
Germantown. 

' Johnston's "Cecil County," p. 281. Thomas died in 1830 at the age of 
fifty-seven, and was buried in the yard of the West Nottingham Presbyterian 
Church. He was thus born in 1773. Catherine married John Matthews and 

Esther became Mrs. McCulIough. Their mother's sister was married 

to a Lamar. 

= The marriage license was issued on that date, as is recorded at Elkton, 
Md. "The History of Pittsburgh," by Neville B. Craig, 1851, p. 231. Major 
Kirkpatrick became, in 1777, a captain in Colonel John Neville's Fourth Vir- 
ginia Infantry. Hamersly's Army Register, p. 27. 

* Neville and Kirkpatrick married daughters of the Oldham family, also a 
well-known one. Address of Captain Williams on a letter of November 19, 1783. 




THOMAS WILLIAMS, SR. 

Halftoue of a small painting iu possession of the 

Misses Williams, Philadelphia 



HIS FOREFATHERS AND THE WEST 5 

dent of Pittsburgh and the other to furnish it a still more 
notable descendant. 

In the long days of travel on his pack horse over the 
mountains, how Mr. Williams must have weighed the 
pros and cons of the historic past, promising present and 
possible future of this interesting region !^ The forks of 
the Ohio, which had been fought over by the two greatest 
nations years before, and afterwards was a bone of fierce 
contention between two of the greatest colonies even 
then all too fresh in his memory, not to speak of the knife 
and tomahawk, ever ready to appear out of the forests to 
wrest them from the actual settlers — these forks were 
now practically safe. It was only the year before that the 
Indians on the farther side of the Allegheny and Ohio 
were removed, and the Penns, who owned the site, laid 
out some lots about the fort on the point. One of the 
commissioners — a Virginian, from the State which had 
recently lost it — who aided in treating with the Indians 
for their removal, wrote rather pessimistic impressions 
of the new place at the time : "The Monongahela at Fort 
Pitt," wrote the Hon. Arthur Lee, on December 17, 1784, 
"is about two hundred and eighty [yards] wide. The 
Allegheny, about two hundred. The former frequently 
overflows, and falls much sooner than the latter, owing 
to its rapidity and extent. The banks of the Mononga- 
hela on the west, or opposite side to Pittsburgh, are steep 
close to the water, and about two hundred yards high. 
About a third of the way from the top is a vein of coal, 
above one of the rocks. The coal is burnt in the town, and 
is considered very good. The property of this and of the 
town is in the Penns. They have lotted out the face of 
the hill, at thirty pounds a lot, to dig coal as far in as the 
perpendicular falling from the summit of the bank. Fort 
Pitt is regularly built, cost the Crown i6oo, and is com- 
manded by cannon from the opposite bank of the Monon- 
gahela, and from a hill above the town called Grant's 
Hill," because explains Mr. Lee, of the disaster there to 
one of General Forbes' forces. 



^ See "The Life and Times of Thomas Smith, 1745-1809, a Pennsylvania 
Member of the Continental Congress," by Burton Alva Konkle, 1904, for maps 
and other material illustrating the progress of this region previous to this date. 



THOMAS WILLIAMS 

"Pittsburgh," he continues, in an even more markedly 
pessimistic vein, "is inhabited almost entirely by Scots 
and Irish, who live in paltry log houses, and are as dirty 
as in the north of Ireland, or even Scotland. There is a 
great deal of small trade carried on; the goods being 
brought at the vast expense of forty-five shillings per 
cwt., from Philadelphia and Baltimore. They take in 
the shops money, wheat flour and skins. There are in 
the town four attorneys, two doctors, and not a priest of 
any persuasion, nor church, nor chapel ; so that they are 
likely to be damned, without the benefit of clergy. The 
rivers encroach fast on the town; and to such a degree, 
that, a gentleman told me, the Allegheny had within 
thirty years of his memory, carried away one hundred 
yards. The place, / believe, will never be very consider- 
able."i 

This view was not shared by the inhabitants, nor the 
large numbers who made application for lots in the new 
town, as shall presently appear. The growing settle- 
ments on the south side of the Ohio all the way down into 
Kentucky, the settlement of the public lands question by 
Congress, the opening up of Indian lands north of the 
Ohio, and the early prospect for a great northwest terri- 
tory above the Ohio conspired to make the strategic and 
economic value of Pittsburgh a matter of common belief. 
So some time after Mr. Robert Williams arrived at Fort 
Williams "on the glade road," in the upper Ligonier 
Valley, there came from Pittsburgh a letter from Major 
Kirkpatnck, dated November 19, 1785, which said : 
"Agreeable to my promise I have well examined the 
Lotts in this Town. The No. is as follows Viz. No. 
127/257, 258, 259/ 118, 117, 116, 115/ 114, 113, 112, III / 
119, 120, 121, 122, / 400, 399, 445-/395, 396/401, 402, 403, 
404/ no, 109, 108, 107/ 106, 105, 104, 103. Now Sir any 
of these Lotts is I think the best Lotts now to be pat- 
tented. Their situation is chief of them in and about the 
2d range of Lotts on the Allegheny River. However 'tis 
probable some of them is already pattented. if the first 

' Craig's "History of Pittsburgh," 1851, pp. 185-7. The Virginians who had 
recently lost the Fort' Pitt region to Pennsylvania were liable to be in an indif- 
ferent mood toward the subject. The cost of Fort Pitt is given in much larger 
figures elsewhere. 



HIS FOREFATHERS AND THE WEST J 

I have set down is taken take the next and so on. I find 
a push will be made for Lotts in Town and applications 
will no doubt be made for some of the best of these Lotts 
before you arrive at Philadelphia unless you are quick. I 
wish I had sent money with you, but you have money 
enough — take as many as you will. I will take all or as 
many off your hands as you please. * * * Major 
Hoofnagle gose to Philadelphia Tuesday or Wednesday 
next — he will take as many as he can raise money for 
himself and his friends. This will be a very advantageous 
piece of business and should not be delayed — let me know 
before you leave your brothers if you will go immediately 
to Phila. I believe the numbers will be best this way 
No. 127, 119, 118, 117, 116, 115, 120, 121, 122, 114, 113, 
112, III, 400, 399, 445. These last four is triangular Lotts 
and contain nearly double the quantity as the others. 
These Lotts will be iio each and 25 pr. ct. on corner 
Lotts. The first range of Lotts on the Allegheny River 
is £15, however there is none of them to be had now that 
I would advise to have anything to do with. Make pen 
[Penn] give you a patent in which he will guarantee 
(i. e.) warrant and defend the Title. Tell him so, how- 
ever take such as he will give. Genl. St. Clair is in 
Town pushing for Lotts with all his might. Mr. Tench 
Francis who dose business in Bank in Chestnut Street is 
the man who will do the business for you. A Mr. Peter 
Miller who is with him will draw the Patent on Parch- 
ment. One patent [will] do for all you take and that 
[ ] will cost you 3 dollars. Francis [may] not wish to 
give so many Lotts to [one] man — you can tell him they 
are for [ ] friends. Let me know if you propose coming 
to Pittsburgh in the spring. [Please] make my compts. 
to Capt. Williams family. 

I am yr Ob Servt 

"A. Kirkpatrick"^ 

Mr. Williams had evidently gone back to Cecil 

County, however, for Major Kirkpatrick in another letter 

from "Col. Neville's," on December 4th, shows some 

anxiety about it and even writes again back in Richmond, 

1 Letter among the Williams papers in possession of the Misses Williams, 
Philadelphia. [ ] indicate mutilation of MSS. 



8 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

Virginia, the 26th of January (1786), addressing it to 
"near Chas. Town, Cecil County," and again writes on 
February 23d, still with no reply. In a postscript of the 
last-mentioned letter the Major, who has determined to 
settle and build in Pittsburgh, gently urges his brother- 
in-law to also cast in his lot there. ''I think," he writes, 
"that you must have determined before this time whether 
you will come to Pittsburgh to live at all or no. You 
ought to determine at once and fix yourself — if you come 
the sooner the better as Lotts and Land will [ ] increase 
in Value and other people fix themselves in the business 
you propose, tis not worth your while to stay to collect 
debts * * * 'tis doing nothing to stay there unless in 
some good business."^ It was the 12th of April, how- 
ever, before Mr. Williams replied to these letters and 
showed that he had taken out a patent for Pittsburgh 
lots and the Major acknowledged receipt of it on the 22d 
of June.- There is no evidence, however, that Mr. Wil- 
Hams changed his residence from old Cecil County, 
nor indeed is anything known of his life after this 
date.^ 

His property at Pittsburgh, still in Westmoreland, 
the last of the colonial counties, advanced with the rapid 
rise of the new town. Scarcely a month had passed after 
Major Kirkpatrick received ]\Ir. Williams' letter when 
there appeared the first paper west of the mountains, 
the Pittsburgh Gazette, on July 29th (1786).* In its pages 
one of the "four lawyers," a graduate of Princeton and 

1 The Williams papers. Major Kirkpatrick himself was buying and selling 
largely in military lands on the Scioto and Miami Rivers. He speaks of the 
lands at £80, £100 and £125 per thousand acres. 

2 The lots that Robert Williams, Sr., purchased were Nos. 112, 113 and 
114, being all of the block bounded by Sixth, Liberty and Penn streets and 
Cecil alley, except the lot on. Sixth street; 343, the lot covering the northern 
side of Fourth avenue between Market street and Jail alley, now called Decatur 
street, and 400, the triangle bounded by Fifth avenue, Market and Liberty streets. 
These were patented December 15, 1785. Other property was bought later. It 
should be noted that Sixth street was then called St. Clair street, and those 
unfamiliar with Pittsburgh may note that the numbered thoroughfares called 
streets are those in the Allegheny River strips at right angles to the river, 
while those called avenues are in the remainder and parallel to the Alononga- 
hela— a very important distinction for the bewildered traveler to keep in mind. 

* Robert Williams, Sr., left no will, so that it is possible he may have died 
suddenly not very long after his second marriage. 

* The best file of the Gazette preserved to us is, at this writing, in the 
remains of the old Mercantile Library, of Pittsburgh, which was purchased by 
the Knoxville Land Improvement Company and is now in the Knoxville school 
building. There is no complete file, but with the aid of those at Carnegie In- 
stitute and Allegheny a good approximation is reached. 



HIS FOREFATHERS AND THE WEST 9 

afterwards distinguished as a writer, lawyer and Judge 
of the Supreme Court, Hugh Henry Brackenridge, pic- 
tures Pittsburgh in classic atmosphere. "At the head of 
the Ohio," reads one paragraph, "stands the town of 
Pittsburgh, on an angular piece of ground, the two rivers 
forming the sides of the angle. Just at the point stood, 
when I first came to this country [1781], a tree, leaning 
against which I have often overlooked the wave, or com- 
mitting my garments to its shade have bathed in its 
transparent tide. How have I regretted its undeserved 
fate when the early winter's flood tore it from the roots 
and left the bank bare. 

"On this point stood the old French fort known by the 
name of Fort Duquesne, which was evacuated and blown 
up by the French in the campaign of the British under 
Gen. Forbes. The appearance of the ditch and mound, 
with the salient angles and bastions still remains, so as to 
prevent the perfect level of the ground which otherwise 
would exist. It has been long overgrown with the finest 
verdure, and depastured on by cattle ; but since the town 
has been laid out it has been enclosed and buildings 
erected. 

"Just above these works is the present garrison, built 
by Gen. Stanwix, and is said to have cost the crown of 
Britain i6o,ooo. Be that as it may, it has been a work of 
great labor and of little use — for, situated on a plain, it is 
commanded by heights and rising grounds on every side, 
and some at less than the distance of a mile. The fortifi- 
cation is regular, constructed according to the rules of 
art, and about three years ago, put into good repair by 
Gen. Irwin who commanded at this post. It has the 
advantage of an excellent magazine, built of stone ; but the 
time is come, and it is hoped will not again return, when 
the use of this garrison is at an end. There is a line of 
posts below it on the Ohio river, to the distance of three 
hundred miles. The savages come to this place for trade, 
not for war, and any future contest that we may have 
with them, will be on the heads of the more northern 
rivers that fall into the Mississippi." 

After describing the apple and peach orchards and 
gardens on the Allegheny banks, and sylvan scenes on 



lO THOMAS WILLIAMS 

the Monongahela hills, with "head and brow beset with 
green and flowers," where on a gala day, "approaching 
in the appearance of a river god, a swain begirt with 
weeds natural to these streams, and crowned with leaves 
of the sugar tree, hailed us, and gave prophetic hints of 
the grandeur of our future empire," he says of an island 
in the river, "when the poet comes with his enchanting 
song to pour his magic numbers on this scene, this little 
island may aspire to live with those in the Aegean sea, 
where the song of Homer drew the image of delight, or 
where the Cam or Isis embracing in their bosoms gems 
like these, are sung by Milton, father of the modern 
bards. * * * 

"The town of Pittsburgh, as at present built, stands 
chiefly on what is called the third bank ; that is, the third 
rising of the ground above the Allegheny water. For 
there is the first bank, which confines the river at the 
present time ; and about three hundred feet removed is a 
second like the falling of a garden ; then a third, at the 
distance of about three hundred yards; and lastly, a 
fourth bank, all of easy inclination and parallel with 
the Allegheny river." 

Speaking of about one hundred dwelling houses and 
about fifteen hundred population in the town he notes 
the large size of families and the annual doubling of 
population from that source and other new arrivals, add- 
ing, "In the fall of the year and during the winter season, 
there is usually a good concourse of strangers at this 
place, from the diflferent states, about to descend the river 
to the westward, or to make excursions into the uninhab- 
ited and adjoining country. These with the inhabitants 
of the town spend the evening in parties at the different 
houses, or at public balls, where they are surprised to find 
an elegant assembly of ladies, not to be surpassed in 
beauty and accomplishments perhaps by any on the con- 
tinent. 

"It must appear like enchantment to a stranger," he 
continues with glowing western enthusiasm, "who after 
travelling an hundred miles from the settlements, accross 
a dreary mountain, and through the adjoining country, 
where in many places the spurs of the mountains still 



HIS FOREFATHERS AND THE WEST II 

continue, and cultivation does not always show itself, to 
see, all at once, and almost on the verge of the inhabited 
globe, a town with smoking chimneys, halls lighted with 
splendor, ladies and gentlemen assembled, various music, 
and the mazes of the dance. He may suppose it to be the 
effect of magic, or that he is come into a new world where 
there is all the refinement of the former and more benevo- 
lence of heart." 

With this increase of population there grew up some- 
thing of a rivalry among the various settlements and, 
nearly a year before the Gaacttc appeared, there was a 
demand for the county seat question to be settled and 
commissioners had chosen a compromise site on the 
north and west branches of the Sewickley and called it 
Greensburgh, while two months after theGazctte appeared 
court was held in old Hannastown — for the last time. 
The new arrivals poured in so rapidly that the next year 
after the appearance of the Gazette Allegheny town was 
laid out and it only required about another year, and the 
creation of the great Northwest Territory of 1787, to 
make it plain a new county was necessary, with Pitts- 
burgh as its capital. These events, with the completion 
of the great Federal Constitution, gave marvelous 
stimulation to the western country, while late in 1788 
the Legislature, in response to the demand, carved 
out Allegheny County, after which there very soon 
appeared a hall of justice not far from the walls of old 
t ort Pitt. 

Whether the successful ventures of Robert Williams, 
Sr., at Pittsburgh led him also to invest in land in and 
about the new county seat at Greensburgh is not known, 
but that both town and farm lands were owned by either 
himself or his youngest son, Robert, within that time is 
known, and that not so many years thereafter Robert, 
Jr., was one of Greensburgh's leading citizens and 
possessor of much of his father's property in the West.^ 
It is further known that, some time about the close of 
that century, he won and married the daughter of one 



1 In the Greensburgh Farmers' Register for June 14, i799. js given the 
borough incorporation act, which mentions Robert Wilhams land m one ot the 
boundaries. In tax lists of 1802, in the Register for 20th of February, Robert is 
quoted as owning 402^ acres. 



12 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

of Greensburgh's well-known citizens, Simon Singer, 
named Agnes, a Vv^oman of great strength of character.^ 

And they selected a spot for their home in Greens- 
burgh at the corner of Main and Pittsburgh streets — on 
the great highway over which flowed for so many, many 
years that splendid stream of population which was even 
then hurrying on to fill up and make glad the vast soli- 
tudes of the mighty West. Even so late as 1818 an 
English traveler through Greensburgh writes: "From 
Greensburgh to Pittsburgh, the improvement, in size 
a:nd quality of the houses, is evident ; and the cultivation 
and condition of the land are much superior. Many 
places bear the evident marks of wealth ; the criterion for 
ascertaining which is, in this country, very tangible. 
Recurring to my old plan of estimation, I passed on my 
road from Chambersburgh to Pittsburgh, being 153 miles, 
one hundred and three stage-waggons, drawn by four and 
six horses, proceeding from Philadelphia and Baltimore 
to Pittsburgh, — seventy-nine from Pittsburgh to Balti- 
more and Philadelphia, — sixty-three waggons, with 
families, from the several places following: — twenty 
from Massachusetts, — ten from the district of Maine, — 
fourteen from Jersey, — thirteen from Connecticut, — two 
from Maryland, — one from Pennsylvania, — one from 
England,— one from Holland, — and one from Ireland; 
about two hundred persons on horse-back, — twenty on 
foot, — one beggar, one family with their waggon, return- 
ing from Cincinnatti, entirely disappointed — a circum- 
stance which, though rare, is by no means, as some 
might suppose, miraculous."^ 

What a wonderful panorama was witnessed on that 
Main and Pittsburgh streets corner in Greensburgh by 
that family! On the northeast corner had been the 
old predecessor of the Drum House, where the United 



1 The founders of the Singer family were a young couple who, because 
their marriage was opposed at home in Switzerland, eloped and came to Amer- 
ica, where they settled in the Wyoming Valley. Some of the family were vic- 
tims of the famous massacre there, and Simon and his wife, Mary Singer, 
removed to Carlisle, where thev lost their property through depreciation of 
Continental money. They settled in Greensburgh, where they died, the former 
in 1815 and the latter three years later. Mr. Singer had fourteen children, of 
whom Agnes was the sixth child. 

= "Sketches of America," by Henry Bradshaw Fearon, London, 1818, second 
edition, p. 196. 



'^Stl^mf^ 


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•- '"'Wl^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^sgF^i^^M 


^K^^Bc''^ J^M'^S^^^^H^B 




^ 



THE WILLIAMS HOMK AT GREENSBURGH 

Halftone of a drawing made under the direction of Miss S. D. Williams, 

Philadelphia 



HIS FOREFATHERS AND THE WEST I3 

States officials had headquarters during the Whiskey 
Insurrection of 1794.^ On the northwest corner in due 
season was erected northward from the corner the court 
house and jail fronting on Main street, with an open 
space on the corner, where was built a small pillar-and- 
roof market. Just westward of this plaza, and facing both 
upon the plaza and upon Pittsburgh street, with a lot 
extending back of the court house and prison, was the 
home in which Robert Williams and Agnes Singer reared 
to maturity a family of six children, all of whom were 
destined to survive their father, and the first son of whom 
was to take his father's place at an early age as the head 
of the family.^ 

This son, who came to them on that hot summer day, 
August 28th, of 1806, born in the very shadow of the 
court house and in the year following the greatest popu- 
lar uprising against the judiciary ever witnessed in Penn- 
sylvania, seemed born for struggle. He was given the 
name of his Uncle Thomas of the old Nottingham 
church back in Cecil County, and a new tie was thus 
placed upon him to bind him and his home about the 
headwaters of the Ohio to that of his forefathers about 
the blue waters at the head of the Chesapeake. 

^ Albert's "Westmoreland County" gives a Robert Williams as one of forty 
petitioners who urged General William Jack, head of the militia in 1794, to 
suppress the riot (p. 205); it also makes him a county commissioner in 1814 
(p. 421), and in the Greensburgh Farmers' Register of August 23, 1800, he signs a 
call for a meeting of the Light Dragoons. 

- The first child was a daughter, Mary, the second the son mentioned and 
the others in order were Robert, who died in 1848; James, Nancy J., Virginia 
and Elizabeth. Nancy, the only daughter who married, became the wife of 
Major-General William Axon Stokes, a prominent member of the bar of Greens- 
burgh and the State, editor of the Republican, and an officer in the Civil War. 
Their daughter, Elizabeth Stokes, became the wife of Count D. Eduardo 
Soderini, a distinguished Italian writer, whose intimate official relations to both 
Pope Pius IX and Leo XIII have made his books on those two pontificates 
recognized as official, and has led to their translation into various modern 
languages. One of these works is being put in English by F. Marion Crawford, 
the novelist. Dr. Percy de La Roche, of Philadelphia, private chamberlain to 
Pope Leo XIII, also married Agnes, another daughter of Major-General 
Stokes. 



CHAPTER II 

His Youth Amidst His Books and the Historic 
Hills and Forests of Old Westmoreland 

1806 

The Greensburgh hills were crowned by schools of 
classical learning, in at least two cases, when Thomas 
Williams, "junior" — for so he subscribed himself until 
his uncle's death — was born, so that even if he were not 
by nature precociously inclined to the reflective, the 
poetical and the learned, as he was, the grammar 
schools would have suggested it to him, as they were 
private schools of high grade and presided over always 
by college graduates, and often by Covenanter pastors.^ 
Just which school young Williams attended as a boy, 
whether the one on Academy Hill or that on Bunker 
Hill, is not known, although it is known that in his own 
class there were but four students, including himself.^ 

He was but four years old, in 1810, when the com- 
munity began to feel the need of a still higher school 
that would prepare its boys for college, and they secured 
from the Legislature an act incorporating Greensburgh 
Academy, On the hill north of the town they erected 
a plain, two-story brick structure, whose front pre- 
sented a doorway, with two windows on either side, 
and windows in like manner above. Although the boys 
and girls were both taught there, provision was made 
for their complete separation, and pupils were worked 
to a degree that tends to make the demands of the 
modern public school not so excessive after all. Years 
afterwards, when Williams, as a man, was discussing 
the creation of public schools, he said: "When I was a 

' Albert's "Westmoreland County," p. 503. 

• Letter of May 9, 1830, to his future wife. The Williams papers. "My 
three class-mates at Grammar School (I had but three) have all been married 

14 



HIS YOUTH 15 

boy, and teachers were required to use their own abilities 
and industry in order to raise up schools, which would 
indemnify them for their labors and pay them as much 
as they expected or desired, teachers were conscientious, 
and the standard of education was comparatively high. 
A year meant a year. It was regarded as a sort of com- 
mon law that there should be no work done by boy or 
teacher on Saturday afternoon; but from the beginning 
of the year to the end of it, with the exception of the 
Fourth of July, and the Christmas holidays, there was 
no other holiday. It was a continuous term of labor; 
and the rate at which teachers were paid, ranged, I think, 
from eight to twenty dollars a year for each pupil. 
* * * we were called into school in summer at eight 
o'clock in the morning and dismissed at twelve; we 
resumed our labors at two and sat there almost until the 
sun went down in the west. I know that I felt the days 
were very long; but I never felt that either my intellec- 
tual, my moral, or my physical health was impaired to 
any very great extent by these labors. * * =i= I was 
educated at a time when a year meant twelve months, 
and when the weapon of instruction was the ferule, in 
accordance with the old doctrine of Solomon."^ 

Among the earliest teachers in the Academy was 
Jonathan Findlay, brother of the man who afterwards 
became Governor William Findlay, and some were 
honor-men of St. Andrew's, or St. Omer's or the best 
American colleges. It is probable that Williams began 
in the Academy under some of these men when he was 
about twelve or thirteen years old, at least when he 
purchased his Delphini Virgil, a Philadelphia edition of 
1817, he dated it August 30, 1819, his thirteenth year, 
and the large 700-page octavo even to-day bears out 
the assertion that he must have worked over every 
page from eight o'clock until near to sunset. His Greek 
and Latin Testament was bought on the following 
December 15th— Watts' first American edition of Leus- 
den (Philadelphia, 1806), with Greek and the Latin 
Vulgate in parallel columns — and it is an interesting 

' Pennsylvania Legislative Record, 1862, pp. 340-1. 



l6 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

fact that the part most thumbed and worn is the gospel 
by John.^ 

Somewhat of his conception of these youthful days 
may be gained from a sketch written on his return from 
college, after he had "climbed the last weary & rugged 
hill which frowned between me &. my native ville, the 
birth-place of my affections & the halcyon scene of 
juvenile delight. As I arrived at the eminence," he con- 
tinues in the unmistakable style of a collegian, "the 
valley beneath opened upon me in all the fanciful luxuri- 
ance of Nature's charms, the lofty steeples glittered in 
the distance with the summer's sun, hill above hill arose 
afar till all was lost & mingled with the horizon's blue. 
A thousand recollections sweet & mournful crowded 
in upon my soul & fancy ever on the wing recalled 
the feats of days long gone, of seasons never to return. 
The village green, the picturesque school-house where 
once the proding pedagogue held his imperious sway, 
an intellectual prodigy among his flock, & thundered 
forth with all the pomp of power, & pride of Eastern 
despotism, his dire anathemas upon the quaking multi- 
tude of urchins, — the venerable oak under which we had 
so oft reclined our fiexile limbs when wearied with 
the chase & talked of coming holidays with all the 
rapture of anticipation, — the antique meeting-house 
which reared its humble front above the intervening 
foliage, which betimes concealed & then again, when 
wafted by the gentle breeze, displayed its small white 
casements to the passing traveller, where once the village 
maids were wont to open forth the whole artillery of their 
charms, & decked in neat & choice attire, in modest 
coquetry, by side-long glance of their laughter-loving 
eyes, to dissipate the force of all their parson's long 
& dull & gloomy rhetoric, — all passed in strict review 
& all were bright in memory's page as with the hues 
of yesterday. There stood the hill-side orchard, on 
whose fruits by stealth yet sweeter for the theft, we had 
so often feasted, — the peach trees bending o'er the gar- 
den fence, whose blooming but forbidden fruit had often 
tempted our mischievous eyes, extended yet their 

' In the Williams collection, Philadelphia. 



HIS YOUTH 17 

friendly, luscious arms, inviting underneath the passing 
school-boy, & methought, to complete the picture, & to 
realize the scene, I yet could hear the sentinel steps 
of farmer Watson & his watchful dog, at whose sono- 
rous bark 'we plied the nimble foot' & scamper'd off tho' 
only to return. Here ran the murmuring brook o'er 
which the patient angler bent, tempting with fraudulent 
bait the finny tribe ; there underneath the cooling shade 
reclined the panting flocks, protected from the noon- 
day sun; the overhanging willows kissed, betimes, at 
some slight breath of wind the crystal stream, bowing, 
as it were, to the pleasurable feeling. Here and there 
like tufts of herbage scattered o'er the polished mirror 
of a lake, arose in picturesque simplicity, the poplar & 
the beech, indicating the calm and quiet residence of 
some retired swain. The tall hickory, which by its 
majestic appearance had forbidden the approach of the 
destroying axe, & the quivering aspen whose resemblance 
to the unsteady step of age had been its safeguard from 
destruction, cast their lengthening shadows o'er the 
fields. The low white farm-house, & the sloping lawn 
denoted health, comfort & happiness & gave still more 
variety to the exquisite features of the landscape, o'er 
which kind Nature had hung her choicest mantle & un- 
furled her green standard to the skies. The red- 
breast chanted his melodious strains, the swallow twit- 
tered in his rapid flight, the shrill whistle of the partridge 
echoed through the new-mown fields & the timid lark 
started anon at my approach, though only to renew his 
song. 'Twas such a scene as always calls to mind the 
sweets of home, where every day is sunshine, & where 
every season's Spring ; 'twas such an one as is calculated 
to awake all the gentle feelings of our natures, portray 
Elysium's joys, & realize our dreams of love & happi- 
ness; it was a scene which is better felt than described, 
when, in the language of the Poet, which there recurred 
to my enraptured imagination : — 

'But one vast realm of wonder spread around, 
'And all the Muse's tales seem'd truly told, 
'Till the sense ached with gazing to behold 
'The spot our earliest dreams had dwelt upon.' 



I8 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

"Here it was," he continues, "that I had been taught 
to hold with Nature sweet communion, & to gaze upon 
her charms with all a lover's raptures ; here had imagina- 
tion led me by the hand, & peopled worlds wdth beings 
of her own creation, whilst she breathed a vivid glow 
upon each new-born feeling of her young disciple ; & 
here it was that, after tearing myself from the noisy 
meriment of boyhood, I would pore over the pages of 
some captivating romance, until surrounding objects 
faded, «& were lost amid the enchanting visions of a 
brighter world, 'mid scenes of love & bliss too pure & 
perfect ever to be realized. Thus tutored did I enter 
upon the theatre of a cold, selfish & unfeeling world, 
dreaming that all was candor & sincerity * '^ *."^ 

His home life, too, must have been peculiarly happy 
during his youth and it must also have been a cultured 
one. Shortly after his father's death he writes from his 
home : "What a debt of gratitude do I owe to all those 
writers who have furnished our shelves with such a 
diversity of intellectual food — how much have they 
accelerated the pace of time which else would 'have 
limped so tediously along,' — how many weary hours have 
been forgotten in the enchanting fictions of the Poet or 
the Novelist, or in the more grave, but not less seductive 
narative of the historian !"- Speaking of his first absence 
from home, he writes : "Oh ! how I longed for the home 
of my nativity with its green fields arrayed in all 
their summer beauty & the bright sunshine which had 
gladdenned the spirits of boyhood in many a holiday 
ramble !"^ It is evident, too, that the chief element of his 
boyhood was his love of learning; "I have always been 
studious," he confesses.* 

Another characteristic of his childhood and youth 
has been pictured by him in verse: — 

1 From his college book of manuscripts of "Original Essays & Orations," 
p. 50, among the Williams papers. He was eighteen years of age when this 
was written and had evidently recently fallen in love with Goldsmith's "Deserted 
Village." 

2 Letter to his future wife, written at Greensburgh and dated November 16, 
1829. Mr. Williams' father, Robert, was one of those strong and wise characters, 
found in almost every community, who commanded so fully the respect of 
neighbors as to be long after known as one of the peacemakers of the town. 

^ Letter, as above, of May 27, 1830. 
* Ibid., November 16, 1829. 



HIS YOUTH 19 



'Imagination loves to dwell on scenes 
Made holy by events of by-gone days, 
And Memory binds with stronger rivet chains, 
Which else had long since sunk beneath the blaze 
Of actions, & events, which life displays. 
When ripening manhood blooms upon our cheek, 
When tost on life's tempestuous, stormy wave. 
The haven of our grief & toil we seek. 
And find at last a wreck beneath our troubled feet. 



'Oft have I roamed in childhood's sportive hour. 
Beguiled to moss-grown rocks, & deserts wild ; 
Guided as 'twere by a Superior Power, 
And breathed the mountain air, the forest's lonely child. 



3- 

'My little hands oft plucked the tempting flower, 
Which grew a widowed plant, within my path. 
And taught me then to know. Misfortune's hour 

'Might empty on my head the vials of her wrath.' 



4. 

'Yes ! even then I felt this mournful truth. 
As thorns and briars rent my tender feet. 
That man was born for misery, & youth 
Was wont to be a scene where joys & sorrows meet. 



'The pine tree rustling in the hollow wind. 
The timorous deer upraised at my light tread, 
The piercing cry of owlet from behind. 
Yes ! even I loved to see the tombstones of the dead ! 



6. 

'My early days were tinged with fancy's dreams, 

The tale of Indian sorrows caught my ear; 

Of Indian character, which shed such gleams 

Of bravery, candor, openness & truth, I loved to hear. 



20 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

7- 

"A warm enthusiast, where'er my mind 
Its stream of feeling, & of passion turned, 
The gush of wrath could scarce an outlet find 
And to avenge their wrongs my soul within me burned. 



"And shall, said I, America's proud sons. 
Lords of the boundless soil, in pride they trod 
In whom no drop of vile or base blood runs. 
Who owns no sovereign law, but that of Nature's God. 

9- 

"Shall they the pride of human kind be driven, 
Torn from the land, by them so dearly loved. 
Stripped of the empire given them by heaven. 
By Christians too ; by men who viewed the scene unmoved ? 

10. 

"No ; thou proud minions, mercenary wolves. 
Within whose hearts no spark of courage laid, 
Not all thy coward blood can e'er absolve 
Thy cruelties, or lay the murdered Indian's shade. 

II. 
"Then would I wish, my blood on fire, to go, 
And meet some warrior of this stock, 
With whom I'd learn to bend the nervous bow. 
And in their scattered ranks withstand the battle's shock. 

12. 

"Nor long my wish unheard. As on an eve. 
From one high hill, I stretched my longing eye 
Through airy mists, which taught me to believe 
The Eastern Mountains' peaks were mingled with the sky; 

13- 

"I wished to stand upon the extremest verge. 
And view the unfathomable gulf below 
When lo ! from desert's mouth I saw emerge 
A solitary man, as swift as mountain roe."' 

1 Verses in his college manuscript of "Original Essays & Orations," p. 
The Williams papers. 



HIS YOUTH 21 

The interesting talk proceeds with an interview 
between the white child and the massive old chief, who is 
greatly touched at the boy's sympathy and understanding 
of the fate of his race, and who is reminded of his own 
boy who lay among the slain long since. Its purpose 
here, however, is served in showing his youthful generous 
impulse toward the ideal and the truth, which all men 
may recognize, but regret as not having been apparently 
workable at the time and not care, or possibly dare, to 
hold as personal convictions. The boy never outgrew 
that fearless view of unpopular or supposedly unwork- 
able truth or lost tlie blazing indignation which followed 
any clear view of wrong. The picture is prophetic. 



CHAPTER III 

Learning, Oratory and, Incidentally, Love at the 

Mountain College Founded by President 

Dickinson at Carlisle 

Class of 1825 

That young Williams spent the three years from his 
thirteenth to his sixteenth in the old Academy on the hill 
as a preparation for college there can be no doubt. ^ 
Besides that being the sole aim of the Academy, a boy 
of such talents and genius for learning could not but 
suggest to his parents and friends the advisability of a 
college course— particularly in those days. Be that as it 
may, preparations were made to send him in September, 
1822, to the nearest seat of learning, which was then 
the institution founded by the famous author of the 
Farmer's Letters, and patronized until his death a few 
years before by the equally famous physician, Dr. Ben- 
jamin Rush— Dickinson College, over the mountains at 
Carlisle. The institution had had a struggling existence, 
greatly influenced by the Federalist and anti-Federalist 
politics of the time, but just the year before it had been 
placed on a new financial basis and was again on the 
wave of prosperity .2 Under Dr. Nisbet's administration 
the college course had embraced but the two years, then 
called Junior and Senior, but for several years past there 
had been another year interpolated, called the Sopho- 
more.^ 

1 His Lucia)! and his Juvenal have each on the inside of the cover, in his 
boyish script, "Thomas Williams Began this book January 2nd, 1822, with no 
name of place; but his Livy and Euclid have on the inside, Thomas Williams, 
Dickinson College, Sept., 1822," which, with other facts, indicate his entrance 
at that time. 

= "Dickinson College," 1879, by Charles F. Himes, Ph. D., p. 52. 

3 In the Greensburgh Farmers' Register for February s, 1803,. the College is 
advertised as requiring only two years, mentioning them as Junior and Senior. 
Dr. Himes seems to think there had been a Freshman year also, and that the 
Sophomore year was introduced in 1814. In 1803 they had a preparatory or 
grammar school, which all unfamiliar with the classics required were compelled 
to attend, but it was distinctly denominated a grammar school. 
22 



AT DICKINSON COLLEGE 23 

In September he walked up the tree-lined paths to 
the arched doorway of the old stone structure, sur- 
mounted by a cupola, and now known as West College. 
The first session was soon over, and, as the holidays 
opened in December, he soon found time to write a letter 
to his sister on Christmas Eve: "We are all here in 
anxious expectation for our Christmas dinner, and expect 
to get a share of the 'fatted calf,' ginger cakes and sweet- 
meats. * * * Carlisle is situated in a large valley and 
the country is so level and clear that you can see for 
many miles around. There is a magnificent spectacle 
from the college cupola, from whence you can see the 
whole town. There is a great natural curiosity here 
which you have often heard me talking about — that is 
the cave. I have never been very far in it yet. We 
have no coal to burn in this country. In their parlours 
here they have just such fires as you burn in the kitchen, 
only not quite so large." Farther on he refers to the 
ladies, one of whom he asserts "is now courting our 
professor of mathematics, but he won't look at her!" 
"Mr. Spencer, the professor of languages," he continues, 
"is about to administer the sacrament tomorrow to the 
Episcopalians. ^= * * Two of the students have been 
suspended and have to go to the Grammar School as long 
as the faculty may think proper, for going to an oyster 
cellar. I believe the faculty has no right to punish them 
beyond suspension, nor do I think that they will submit 
to it. * * * I am growing middling fat, and the fellows 
are continually plaguing me about my fat cheeks. Give 
my love to mother and father and tell them I am sensible 
of their kindness and afifection towards me."^ 

Almost exactly a year later, December 15, 1823, he 
writes his father: "The studies of the Junior class are 
much harder than those of any other class in College, and 
therefore more preparation is necessary, and besides,^ I 
have determined that Westmoreland shall not be dis- 
graced by me, its only representative, if possible. * * * 
You would scarcely believe how swiftly this session has 
passed away to me, in comparison with last year, and I 

• Letter of December 24, 1822, to his sister Mary, among the Williams 
papers. 



24 



THOMAS WILLIAMS 



hope that the next session may pass in the same manner. 
A great many of the students are going to pass the recess 
in Harrisburgh, & I should Hke to spend a few days there 
myself, and then perhaps I may be able to give you an 
accurate description of our renowned Dutch Governor, 
John Andrew Shultz. He will be inaugurated tomorrow 
or the day after. I suppose you have heard of the great 
change in the mail route. The stage now runs from 
Harrisburgh to Pittsburgh in two days." 

Young Williams' standing at this time was of the 
first order, as about two months later, February 24th 
(1824), the College clerk. Professor Henry Vethake, 
reported to his father that, on a grading basis of i to 
5, in which "3 represents a decent mediocrity; those 
above it are marks of honor, those below of disgrace," 
he would understand precisely the standing of Thomas 
when they informed him "that in scholarship he ranks 
No. 4/2 and in behavior No. 5." In June he was reported 
"No. 5" in both.^ 

During 1824 Rev. Dr. John M. Mason resigned the 
principalship — as the presidency was then called — and 
was at once succeeded by Rev. Dr. William Neil. Wil- 
liams had already become a chum of a young man from 
Newark, named Alexander Macbeth, who had invited 
him to spend part of the vacation with him when he 
visited his Uncle Thomas in Cecil County, Maryland.- It 
was the desire of both father and son that young Williams 
should use his vacations in seeing as much of the country 
as possible, so the young men made many journeys 
together. On one occasion at Wilmington, so family 
tradition records it, Macbeth proposed an introduction to 
one of three beautiful young ladies, asking Williams for 
his preference. The reply was: "Introduce me to the 
best conversationalist," and his friend forthwith made 
him acquainted with Miss Sarah D. Reynolds, in whom 
the young westerner was confident he had met his 
fate. To her not long after he dedicated the following 
lines, which show that the reputation which his 



1 Printed information on the back of the last report shows that the total 
annual expense for a student was $169. 

2 Letter to his father. 




WEST COLLEOK, UICKINhOX COI,I,EGE, CAKIJSI.H 
Halftone of a photograph in possession of President Reed 



AT DICKINSON COLLEGE 2$ 

Muse had gained among his college friends was well 
founded : — 

"The murmuring streamlet played in circling eddies round, 
The feet of beauty strayed on lone, enchanted ground; 

A vision bright flits o'er the scene. 

More pure its light than Luna's beam. 
The waters curb their flow, their polished face unmov'd 
Reflected back its glow, she looked upon, & loved, 

'Art thou of earth, or art thou come 

Of heavenly birth, & hither flown?' 
She spoke, the dimple graced the cheeks that knew no guile. 
The waters gently traced the maid's etherial smile. 

The accents fell in strains to please 

And died away before the bi-eeze. 
The blue eye playful smil'd, she stretched her snow-white arm. 
Imagination's child return'd the pleasing charm. 

She grasps in vain; the fairy form 

Now flits before her, now 'tis gone. 
Her pouting dewy lips the playful spirit chide. 
The wave their nectar sips, & heaves aloft its side. 

The gale now springs, clouds intervene. 

The glittering moon withdraws her beam. 
The lovely vision pass'd, she sought it on the wind 
She sought in vain ; alas ! it left no trace behind. 
'Then why deceive, thou airy sprite, — 

Why doest thou leave my ravished sight?' 
Warm is the heart that speaks, the thrilling fire still burns. 
The glow upon her cheeks departs & comes by turns. 
'My first, my last, my only love. 

Whither so fast, — why thus remove?' 
She spoke; nought but her voice reechoed on the blast. 
Till home again return'd the mirror's side she pass'd. 
Her glance upon it fell, a form therein appear'd. 
The vision came again, & soon her sorrow cheer'd. 
But why none other like the sweet reflected face. 
Young fancy's artless child, the skies its dwelling place? 
Unhappy still art thou, but happy others be. 
Thou seek'st a counterpart, but they seek only thee.'" 

On his return to Carlisle, in the autumn of 1824, and 
his entrance upon his senior work, he was made president 

^ Among "College Orations & Essays," p. 129. Written in Newark, Dela- 
ware May 1, 1825. The Reynolds family lived at Stanton, near Wilmington, 
on an old plantation. It is a curious fact that Miss Reynolds' father was 
greatly impressed by young Williams on their first visit, and said of him: 
"That little man will make his mark in the world." 



26 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

of the Union Philosophical Society, in which his orator- 
ical powers had begun to shine so brightly. He had 
become a member of this organization when it was few 
in numbers, and had been a leading spirit in restoring it 
to vigor. At the close of the session his friend, Alex- 
ander Macbeth, of Newark, was made president; Samuel 
Maclay, of Lewistown, vice-president; Samuel R. Hous- 
ton, of Virginia, was secretary, while the other members 
of the Society were S. George Fisher and William W. 
Gerhard, of Philadelphia; John H. Price and R. B. Car- 
michael, of Maryland ; G. W. Teackle, of Virginia ; A. S. 
Mendenhall, of Savannah, and George A. Lyon, of Penn- 
sylvania. One of these, Mr. Gerhard, afterwards became 
a physician, who, in scientific research and discovery. 
became one of the famous names in the medical world. ^ 
In his inaugural address as president of the Society 
he shows his growing sense of the power and place of 
oratory. This was the period when Benton, Clay and 
Webster were becoming great oratorical names. "The 
world is now increasing in wisdom & knowledge," he 
proceeds ; "the scholar is beginning to hold that rank in 
society which is so deservedly his due, & the destroyer 
of thousands is sinking inferior to the enlightener of a 
single mind. From the observable change in the senti- 
ments of mankind, we have reason to suppose that in a 
short time the Genius of literature will reign triumphant 
& that the steps of all will be directed to the temple 
of Science, however rugged the ascent. Yes! I do not 
hesitate, in saying, that the time will arrive, when the 
fame of Demosthenes will shine with redoubled splen- 
dour, & the exploits of Alexander be forgotten. * * * 
We, who of all others, as a republic, would be most 
supposed to watch with jealousy, the present rapid ad- 
vance of the Grecian states to freedom, are the most 
forward in asserting their rights." Farther on he indi- 
cates the Society's usefulness: "In the company of our 
equals, & open to each others remarks, more freedom 



'"A History of the Medical Profession of Philadelphia from 1638 to 1897, 
by Burton Alva Konkle, 1897, p. 202, in MSS. at the College of Physiciatis, 
being the five main chapters of "The Standard History of the Medical Pro- 
fession of Philadelphia," edited by Dr. Frederick P. Henry, Honorary Librarian 
of the College of Physicians, and published that year. 



AT DICKINSON COLLEGE 27 

of address, more advantages will be gained, than in the 
same exercises of the college."^ 

About a month later he read an essay on "Political 
Parties in the United States," which is significant at this 
point as indicating his own political tendencies. After 
reference to the Federalists and anti-Federalists, he con- 
tinues : "It was not, however, until the period of the 
French Revolution that these parties became exasperated 
against each other. The influence of that important event, 
which shook the foundation of every throne in Europe, 
was not confined to the Ancient Continent, but extended 
beyond the shores of the Atlantic & carried agitation 
& discord into the American States. The Democratic 
party beheld with pleasure the dissemination of their 
principles, & the downfall of kings, but the Federalists, 
shocked with the crimes of the French rulers, the blood- 
thirsty cruelty of Marat & Robespierre, & the enor- 
mous abuses of republican principles, & alarmed at 
the anarchy & disorganization, which they had intro- 
duced, repressed everywhere appearance of popular cabal 
& supported the Executive with all their authority & 
influence. The parties which agitated the Union now 
raged with great violence, the debates in the House of 
Representatives were keen and protracted to an unusual 
length, the feelings of the multitude were aroused, & 
had not Washington declared his opinion in favor of 
Great Britain, concerning American ships, laden with the 
stores of France, an universal anarchy might have been 
the consequence. After his resignation, it was hoped that 
some change propitious to the Democratic influence 
might take place, & not many years afterwards this 
hope was realized by the election of Jefiferson. Since that 
time Democracy has become the popular by-word, & its 
interest has been gradually advancing, until it has 
obtained the ascendency, & almost quelled all opposi- 
tion. But let the Federalists, select, though weak in 
numbers, rest content. Their principles have been 
adopted through the whole extent of government, and the 
equity & wisdom of their policy, has enchained the 
admiration of the world. If a tumultuous majority 



Written October 23, 1824. "College Orations & Essays," p. 



28 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

of our citizens have embraced the opposing name, let 
them remain in harmless ignorance, so long as they do 
not put forth their impious & misguided hands to with- 
draw one stone from the pillar, which supports the 
superb & sacred edifice."^ 

Two days later he delivered an oration in the College 
chapel on the subject which had aroused his boyish indig- 
nation, the treatment of the Indians. "Methinks," he 
thundered in closing, *T see the spirit of some slaughtered 
Indian enthroned in clouds & darkness, looking forward 
with sweet anticipation to the moment of revenge, — to 
that moment when, in the revolution in human affairs, 
the pillars of our government shall be shaken to their 
base, when the descendants of those who were once deaf 
to the agonizing cries of misery & despair shall kneel 
as vainly & unheard before the delegated instrument 
of a well-earned retribution. Had we hearts to feel, had 
we one spark of sensibility, the dying groan of the last 
unfortunate victim of their race would ring a knell in 
their [our?] ears never to be forgotten." 

Soon after the holidays he wrote an essay on a moral 
question suggested in Paley's "Moral Philosophy." 
"Right, in moral or philosophical apprehension," he 
contends, "appears to me to be that which a majority 
of mankind considers praiseworthy; for if universal 
assent be a necessary incident, it follows most inevitably 
that there is no right or wrong, since there are few, 
if any things in which men do not differ, whereas they 
generally esteem that right which conduces to their 
happiness. If human law be urged in preference to the 
will of God, it meets with this insurmountable objec- 
tion, that there are many instances of right and wrong 
which do not and cannot come within the jurisdiction 
of the law of the land, whereas in no one instance do 
right and the will of Goa differ."- He takes pains to 
say that moral philosophy is not a field in which he had 
been often wont to roam. 

In a critique on Addison's "Cato," a month later, on 
February 13th (1825), he has this to say of criticism in 

' "College Orations & Essays," p. 27. Written November 20, 1824. 
2 An essay read on January 8, 1825. 



AT DICKINSON COLLEGE 29 

general: "It seems to be the prevailing opinion among 
critics of all countries, that their duty is to condemn & 
discover as many errors as possible ; but if I have avoided 
this, I cannot boast that [it] is because I believe 'that 
there is more true taste in drawing forth one latent 
beauty, than in observing an hundred obvious imperfec- 
tions ; for the first proves that our spirit cooperates with 
the writer, & the second shows nothing more than that 
we have eyes, & that we use them to very little pur- 
pose,' but because either through a natural blindness, or 
merit in the subject, it was so fortified on all sides, as to 
be impregnable to the cavilling attacks of criticism. 
'The defects of a piece should always be excused for the 
sake of the beauties it contains,' & to condemn that 
before us would inevitably call down upon the head of 
the unfortunate critic, the direful vengeance of the white- 
headed urchins of the schools, for having dared to depre- 
ciate the merits of the first stepping-stone of the young 
Demosthenes of our country." 

On Washington's birthday he delivered an oration in 
the College chapel, in which he again shows his belief in 
the scholar as well as the soldier in politics. "Let each 
profession but receive its due," he concludes, "let litera- 
ture but circulate through the veins of government; the 
shaggy crest of war will soon be smoothed & the golden 
age again return to soften, with its genial influence, the 
iron heart of man. Let each nation unite in the same 
person, her Solon in council, & her Leonidas in the field, 
who may inspire energy into her cabinet & infuse terror 
into her arms. Let each man bear an arm ready at every 
emergency, & it will be made manifest to the world, that 
the fire of Patriotism burns as brightly in the scholar's, 
as the soldier's breast ; it will be again exemplified that 
Athenian bravery is not incompatible with Athenian 
literature." 

About a week after this event he finds himself em- 
broiled in a widespread "college rebellion" — one of those 
experiences that seem heroic to the participants at the 
time, but upon which they afterwards look back with 
unmingled good humor. He prepares for the worst — the 
possibility of leaving college without his degree. "The 



30 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

conduct of one member of the Faculty," he explains to his 
father, "has for a long time excited the most serious 
murmurs of discontent. Accustomed for many years to 
dominance over a village Grammar School, he has dared 
to sway in a manner hitherto unparalelled, the rod of 
apprehension over the students of the College." In short, 
because the Professor could not locate some disorder in 
the diningroom he threatened to dismiss all from the 
tables. The threat was met with a hiss from two or 
three, whereupon an extra recitation was imposed on the 
entire College. Rebellion meetings were held and the 
offenders were offered up, but for some reason the Pro- 
fessor was not to be appeased in that way. Other classes 
took their punishment, but the Seniors, numbering 
twenty members, eleven of whom were professing Chris- 
tians, and none of whom were concerned in the disorder, 
refused to submit. Thereupon two more recitations were 
added to their punishment and the class appealed to the 
Faculty, who felt legally unable to do anything. Presi- 
dent Neil, he writes, said if they were dismissed he would 
not be long in following — information which "was deliv- 
ered to us in confidence." The conflict must have been 
compromised in some way, for the storm soon passed, for 
less than a month later he is discussing with his father 
plans for his graduation. He also adds, not to be vain, but 
for the sake of the pleasure it will cause those at home, 
that "the Professor of Oratory paid the highest compli- 
ment on my last one [oration] which has ever been paid 
to any student ;" and that he has "the reputation of being 
the best composer that Dickinson College has produced 
since its revival." He explains in a second letter that 
there is to be a vacation between the 6th of April and the 
i8th of May, and that commencement will occur on the 
29th of June. 

On the 28th he was chosen to deliver the valedictory 
of his class to the Union Philosophical Society, and on 
the following day, as third honor man, he delivered the 
"Euterpean oration," Maclay and Henderson being the 
salutatorians and George S. Whitehill, of Columbia, vale- 



AT DICKINSON COLLEGE 3I 

dictorian.^ The subject of Williams' oration was "The 
Powers of Music." "Eloquence," his fervent periods ran, 
"will always move, Poetry always captivate & Music 
always charm. High on the list of antiquity, venerable 
for its use, & triumphant for its universality stands the 
twin sister of Poetry, the language of Song. The 
barren & discordant waste of words was but a feeble 
vehicle of thought till the united powers of melody, & 
harmony struck deep the sympathetic chords of the 
human heart. Rude indeed were the strains which 
characterized the primitive ages, but with Literature the 
charms of Song marched hand in hand till the masterly 
touch of Orpheus polished the strings of the lyre, wafted 
his fame, by his melody, to the stars & inscribed his 
name with a pencil of light in the blank-book of immor- 
tality." 

A college man's history is usually internal, and few 
there be who have ever portrayed it themselves ; while 
unfortunately for those that follow them the task can be 
but the original's alone. These fragmentary pictures of 
Williams' mingled strength and immaturity, however, 
will serve to suggest the sources, character and limita- 
tions of those powers which, thus strong in a young man 
not yet nineteen years of age, were destined to be deeply 
and widely influential in both State and nation in the 
years to come. It might be a temptation to formulate 
these qualities and characteristics at this point, but they 
were not formulated to Williams himself entirely ; no 
prophecy was unrolled in his own hands in these closing 
days at Carlisle ; the tale was still untold. So may it not 
still tell itself? 

How he looked upon his graduation and its aftermath 
appears somewhat in some verses to his chum and class- 
mate : — 

"A few short months now only intervene. 
Till snapt assunder be our youthful ties, — 
Few suns shall roll in majesty serene, 
Or shed their splendour o'er the liquid skies, 

1 A commencement programme among the \\illiams papers. His diploma 
was signed by William 5s^eil, Principal; Henry ^'ethake, Professor of Natural 
Philosophy and Mathematics; Alex. JNIcClellan, Professor of Moral Philosophy, 
and Joseph Spencer, Professor of Greek and Latin. Williams papers. 



32 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

(Alas ! the pace of time, how swift it flies !) 

Till we, who three short years have trod alike 

The mazy path of science, viewed with eyes 

Of joy, our predecessors' rapid flight, 

Shall be withdrawn fore'er from alma mater's sight. 

"The pangs of parting o'er, we soon shall breathe, 
Free as the mountain air and unconstrained 
By rigorous College laws: no bars to grieve 
Our spirits : now our will no longer reined : 
No curb on inclination : this attained, 
We view afar, with pleasure beaming eye 
The joys of life's wide stage: then tmenchain'd. 
Like bird uncaged, we mount aloft to fly. 
And soar amid the few who deck the purer sky. 

"But should we fail in our aerial flight, 
Dash'd to the ground, from pinions newly tried. 
Discouraged not, ris'n in Antaeus might 
Will once more wing our arduous way, & pride 
Will tell — 'in search of fame we died,' — 
Fame, which has made its votaries oft recoil 
Back to their starting place. But though denied 
By prosing cynics, who'd life's seasoning spoil, 
One wreath of glory won were worth an age of toil. 

"But say, (lest treading with incautious step, 
I touch a theme unfit,) does glory's fire 
Lurk in that bosom, unaroused as yet 
But wanting only stimulant t' inspire 
To wield the sword, or sweep the Muse's lyre ? 
If not then more than mortal thou, since bold 
Have all, who vast Creation's works admire, 
Been to assert that sparks of heavenly mould 
And Aetna's slumbering fires lurk in the human soul.'" 

And nov;^ with some expressions in letters from his 
two most intimate friends, as aftermath, these scenes of 
college days may close : "Dear Colonel," wrote Macbeth 
from Newark, Delaware, on Jtily i6th following, regard- 
ing a visit with a maiden of Wilmington, "you may 
depend on the character I gave you — the profundity of 

' These are the second to fifth verses, inclusive, of a poem of twelve verses. 
The sentiment of the whole is so beautiful as to tempt to trespass on the space 
of this chapter. "College Orations & Essays," p. 121. 



AT DICKINSON COLLEGE 33 

Locke & Aristotle, the eloquence of Cicero & Demos- 
thenes, the voice of Nestor & the actions of Chester- 
field were all united in you — & required but the foster- 
ing hand of culture to bring them to perfection." "This 
day," he writes a little later from New Castle, "I com- 
menced the study of the law." "Dear Tom," writes Sid- 
ney G. Fisher from Carlisle about the same time, "after 
your departure I did not know [what] to do with myself. 
I went into your room, it was deserted, desolate and for- 
lorn — 46 had lost its charms to me and I have hardly 
entered it since. Hitherto my college life has passed 
pleasantly on, but hereafter it hardly can, as the only 
congenial society I ever found has gone, but I still 
hope we may meet again and frequently." Again, later, 
he speaks of "our constant intercourse, sentimental walks, 
etc." and "the happy hours we passed in reading poetry 
together," and refers to another college companion he had 
tried to read with in vain, as "he looks to mere rhyme 
& metre & cannot conceive the exquisite enjoyment 
of comprehending a fine idea." "College is dull, very 
dull," he writes in July, "and I have turned recluse — I 
scribble rhymes, damn Euclid, sleep, and read Byron and 
Scott's novels most of my time. I sometimes saunter 
down the street, but since you have gone, generally 
companionless."^ 

1 The writer of these letters is the father of the well-known Pennsylvania 
historian, Sydney George Fisher, who, by the way, spells his first name with 
a "y" instead of an "i," as may be noticed. The letters are among the Williams 
papers. 



CHAPTER IV 

He Studies Law Under Two Prospective Justices of 

THE Supreme Court, Congressman Coulter, of 

Greensburgh, and John Kennedy, of 

Pittsburgh, and Is Admitted 

at Both Places 

1825 

At the time of Williams' graduation, in the early sum- 
mer of 1825, probably the most notable and popular man 
in Greensburgh — certainly the greatest scholar and orator 
there — was a brilliant and cultured bachelor lawyer of 
thirty-seven years, Richard Coulter by name. His 
scholarship extended not only to law, but to politics, 
theology and literature as well. His writings were 
characterized by a delightful style, while as a speaker 
he was fluent, strong and oratorical — even ornate. Prob- 
ably no lawyer of Pennsylvania of his generation had a 
more distinctly literary flavor in style, except John Ban- 
nister Gibson. In the upheaval of the politics of that 
time he had been opposed to the rising popular tide of 
Democratico-Republican sentiment and had served the 
Federalists in the Assembly several times and an "Inde- 
pendent Republican" constituency once, although but 
four years before the popular tide had been too much for 
him — and he had since confined his attention to his pro- 
fession. This was during the transition period of Alon- 
roe's last administration. So that when, in those early 
July days, young Williams returned to Greensburgh with 
such college honors it seems impossible that either him- 
self or his father would have conceived of a situation 
more suitable for or suggestive of the study of the law 
34 




JUSTICE RICHARD COUI.TER 

Halftoue of au engraving by Bather in the office of the Prothonotary of the 

Supreme Court, Philadelphia 



STUDENT AT LAW 35 

for the young eighteen-year-old collegian than there pre- 
sented itself under the direction of Hon. Richard Coulter. 

Certain it is that after a slight vacation, and not far 
from his nineteenth birthday, in August, he began his 
Coke-upon-Littleton and Blackstone under Mr. Coulter's 
direction, and early in September his old friend, Sidney G. 
Fisher, writes from Carlisle : "I am rejoiced to hear that 
you are so much pleased with the Law." There is every 
evidence, also, that during the rest of the year he applied 
himself severely to his work, but by the close of the year 
the exigencies of the political situation and the rising 
popular Democratic movement made the conservative 
element in Westmoreland determine to stand together 
and call Mr. Coulter to run as an independent candidate 
for Congress against the nominee of the Democrats.^ 
This made a serious derangement in the plans of young 
Williams, who, on January 2d (1826), writes Macbeth: 
"I have some distant intention of concluding my studies 
in Carlisle & of spending perhaps a winter in the 
University of Maryland."- He continued his studies, 
however, as long as possible during 1826, until the elec- 
tion of his preceptor to Congress. 

Meanwhile he was cheered by interesting evidences of 
esteem for his talents, especially in Dickinson College. 
"Heister," writes his friend Fisher, from Carlisle, March 
6th, "spoke your Aborigines, and did it very well. Your 
fame will live for a long time in this college. Mendenhall 
spoke a piece of yours at the last forensic, Heister at this, 
and some of them have been spoken two or three times 
in the prayer-hall." These compliments, however, did 
not allay a growing discontent and melancholy, which 
proved to be nothing less than the rankling darts of Cupid 
and the hopes and fears aroused by events far beyond 
the Alleghenies, near the headwaters of the Chesapeake. 
Never had a man more loyal friends in a love affair than 
did Williams in Macbeth, now at Newark and New 
Castle, and Fisher, at Carlisle. Williams had hesitated 

1 Coulter was elected in 1826 and had several years of distinguished service, 
as well as a stormy political experience, in his efforts to stay with the party 
which promised most for Federalist principles. Probably as sympathetic a 
sketch of him as can be found is that by the late George Dallas Albert, on 
page 319 of his Westmoreland history. 

= Letter of that date among the Williams papers. 



36 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

to address for correspondence the fair maiden of Wilming- 
ton, so Macbeth sung his praises and wrote him news, 
while Fisher endeavored to spur him to action — both 
with an affection like that of Jonathan for David. 
Some time in June he wrote her his first letter, in great 
trepidation, although Macbeth vowed by all the classical 
gods that Williams had no ground for apprehension. The 
news stirred Fisher to command him in friendly fierce- 
ness: "Cross that cursed Alleghany," he exclaims, "tho' 
all the snakes, bears, wolves & panthers that inhabit 
its recesses should oppose you. Be not 'the most miser- 
able being in existence.' "^ 

Not long after the fall elections, in which Mr. Coulter 
was sent to Congress, an invitation from his Uncle 
Thomas, at Rising Sun, to make him an extended visit 
seemed to be a most happy solution of his difficulties, 
for, between his affairs of the heart, the breaking up 
of his legal studies and the results of his sedentary habits 
of life, he had become somewhat morbid. The winter 
passed quietly at Rising Sun, with occasional visits to 
the neighboring towns, especially Newark and Wilming- 
ton. Fisher and he continued their correspondence, which 
shows that up to this time one of their bases of friend- 
ship was their mutual love of Byron, but Fisher had 
found a new literary god in Milton, and devotes much 
space to urging Williams to also transfer his allegiance, 
and, curiously enough, the blind bard did become, and for 
life, too, his constant companion — a well-worn copy was 
always in his pocket until his last days.- Scarcely had 
young Thomas become assured that his advances were 
not received with disfavor, when, early in March, 1827, 
news came of his father's ill health, and it was soon 
determined that he could not longer delay his return to 
Greensburgh. The facts bore out his conclusions, for his 
father lingered only a month or so longer and died during 
the month of May. His uncle had followed young- 
Williams to the West early in that month, and before the 
father died he placed the property at both Pittsburgh 

^ Letter of June 22, 1826, among the Williams papers. 

2 ]\Iiss Reynolds visited much with her uncle in Wilmington, whither her 
family removed about this time. 



STUDENT AT LAW 37 

and Greensburgh in the hands of Thomas, Sr., of Rising 
Sun, with the understanding that young Williams should 
be cared for and become his heir. This purpose was 
carried out with fidelity, with the exception that his uncle 
died suddenly before the papers were completed, so far 
as is known/ 

While at Pittsburgh, his Uncle Thomas had arranged 
for his resumption of the study of law under the best 
guidance available west of the Alleghenies. This, his 
uncle thought, could be best done under that able Pitts- 
burgh lawyer, Richard Biddle, but before arrangements 
were fully finished it became necessary for Mr. Biddle to 
be away for such a length of time as to compel the adop- 
tion of another plan. His uncle, who had returned to 
Rising Sun by July, then suggested either Mr. Ross or 
Mr. Baldwin, of Pittsburgh, and writes, on July 23d: 
"You must not be uneasy in being disappointed with Mr. 
Biddle; there are others who I presume you can do 
equally well with : it is a business that will require some 
time to ascertain what will be best to be done — besides 
you are quite young — you have time plenty & some to 
spare — when In Greensburgh you can certainly be mak- 
ing some progress under Mr. Coulter." On August 12th 
he again writes, this time from Bedford Springs, where 
he has gone for his health : 'T have been making inquiry 
since I came here, of several gentlemen, who would rec- 
ommend a suitable lawyer for a young man to study Law 
with, and have been recommended to a Mr. Kennedy 
formerly of Union Town, who has lately removed to 
Pittsburgh. Mr. Kennedy has been spoken of [as] a 
first rate Lawyer & gentleman. I am told he stands 
equally as high as Mr. Biddle." Farther on he says Mr. 
Kennedy has agreed to take the young man on the same 
terms, the customary fee of $200 for a three years' 
course in law, adding "from what I learn he will answer 
better for you to study with than any other I have any 
knowledge of, West of the Mountains." On September 
25th a letter from Thomas, Sr., shows that young Wil- 



' He was appointed guardian for his brothers and sisters. A letter of 
February ii, 1829, says that he was in Greensburgh hardly three months in the 
two years since his father's death. 



38 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

Hams had begun study under Mr. Kennedy in Pittsburgh 
and was greatly pleased with him.^ 

At the August term of court at Greensburgh (1828), 
on motion of Congressman Coulter, Thomas Williams, 
now of age, was admitted to the bar, and on August 7th 
was also admitted at Pittsburgh.- John Kennedy had 
been practicing there since 1799; James Ross since 1788; 
Henry Baldwin (afterwards of the national Supreme 
Court) since 1801 ; William Wilkins since the same 
year ; John B. Gibson since 1803 ; Walter Forward 
since 1806; Neville B. Craig since 1810; Charles Shaler 
since 1813 ; Harmar Denny since 1816; Richard Biddle 
since 1817; Robert Burke since 1822, and many others 
— for Thomas Williams was the one-hundred-and-eighty- 
first admitted since the organization of the county. It 
may be noted also that the following year there were 
also admitted Daniel Agnew, Walter H. Lowrie, Cor- 
nelius Darragh and W. B. McClure, among others — 
names, most of whom are readily recognized as among 
the influential ones of Pittsburgh. 

Young Williams continued his studies under Mr. 
Kennedy after his admission. Just what his course was 
is not known, but that it was exhaustive may be gained 
from a letter written by Mr. Kennedy, who, David Paul 
Brown says, "w^as the most enthusiastic lover of the 
law we ever knew," — to a young relation not long after 
this date, in which he states the proper preparation of an 
ordinary citizen. "Every member of a political society," 
he writes, "and more especially of a popular government, 
where he may be called upon to fill the highest station 
in it, ought to be acquainted not only with its constitu- 
tion, but with its laws and municipal regulations. To a 
citizen of Pennsylvania I would recommend a course of 

' John Kennedy was born June 6, 1774, just west of Carlisle, graduated 
at Dickinson College in 1795 and studied law under Judge James Hamilton, the 
elder. He was a friend and associate of John B. Gibson from boyhood to the 
end of his life. 

^ This data is from the certificate of admission among the Williams papers. 
Hence the record of it in the Common Pleas Appearance Docket, which, 
curiously enough, although in connection with the records of this session, has 
it in "1831," cannot be correct; and may be, as indeed it appears to be, an 
interpolation of a later date and a slip of the pen at the same time. The 
certihcate shows the court to have been composed of President Judge Charles 
Shaler and his associates. Judges Francis McClure and James Riddle, and the 
motion to have been made by Robert Burke, with whom he was later to be 
intimate in politics. 




JUSTICE JOHN KENNEDY 

Halftone of a painting in the consultation room of the Supreme Court 

at Philadelphia 



STUDENT AT LAW 39 

reading as follows, to wit : Rollin's Ancient History, Gib- 
bons' Rome, Gillie's Greece, Caesar's Commentaries, 
Tacitus' Livy, Plutarch's Lives, Hume's England, Hal- 
lam's Middle Ages, Robertson's Charles 5th, Puffendorf's 
Law of Nature, Grotius de jure pacis ac belli, Paley's 
Moral Philosophy, Vatel's Law of Nations, Black. Com,, 
Kent's Com., Coke on Lit., Reed's Blackstone, The Con- 
stitution of the United States, in connection with the 
works called The Federalist, and Rawle on the Consti- 
tution; many of these books ought to be read again and 
again, until the mind becomes familiar with them."^ If 
this is the programme for a "citizen," one can imagine 
what a law student's programme might be, especially 
when it is known, as the Pittsburgh Gazette of November 
30, 1830, states it, that the preceptor was "a steady, 
decided, uniform and consistent Federalist."- 

What with some practice, attention to his Uncle 
Thomas' property in Pittsburgh, and that of his father's 
estate, and the study of the law, Williams was a busy 
young man. He felt, too, that the time had come to 
finally settle his affairs of the heart in Wilmington, so in 
the late autumn he made a visit to Philadelphia on certain 
i)usiness, particularly to look into stock investments, and, 
at the same time, went to Rising Sun and Wilmington. 
Were it not a sacrilege to lay bare the beautiful and 
tender correspondence that passed between Miss Rey- 
nolds and young Williams, it would be a pleasure to 
reveal the nobility of both characters which it portrays, 
and which led to their engagement during January of the 
year 1829.^ Miss Reynolds was a daughter of one of the 
oldest Delaware families, the founders of which, in 
America, were William Reynolds, 1705-1777, and his wife, 
Margaret Porter, 1709-1772. Their son, Alexander, 
married Ann Caldwell, of another well-known old family 
of Kent County, and the youngest of the three children 
of this last couple, Dr. William Reynolds — who studied 

1 Letter to George \^'. Hitner on December 5. i833. Some of these titles 
have inaccuracies that spring from writing from memory. This letter is in the 
possession of Mr. H. C. Hitner, of Pottstown, Pa. 

2 Williams said of him, in a letter to his fiancee, on December 13, 1830: 
"A sounder lawyer and a worthier man was never called to a judicial trust. 

3 Correspondence of Thomas Williams and Miss Reynolds, among the 
Williams papers. Letter of January 22, 1830. 



40 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

medicine in the school at Philadelphia and married Miss 
Ann Donaldson — was the father of the young writer of 
one side of this interesting correspondence.^ The Rey- 
nolds family, through intermarriages, were related to sev- 
eral of the best-known families of that State, among them 
bemg the Porters, Rodgerses and Grays. Miss Reynolds 
herself was also very youthful, as she was but about two 
years younger than the young attorney of Greensburgh, 
her birth having occurred on April 13, 1808, on the old 
plantation near Newark and Wilmington.- Her father, 
too, had died not far from the time of the decease of 
Robert Williams, so that not long thereafter the family 
removed to Wilmington, whence many of her letters 
were written. 

The year 1829 passed in intense occupation at both 
Greensburgh, where Williams' family continued to live, 
and in Pittsburgh, where so many of his duties filled his 
days, and it is only late in the autumn that glimpses of 
his daily life again appear. On November i6th (1829) 
he writes his future wife : "I have always been studious. 
I have now become a sober and contemplative man, & 
tho* Poetry has done good service on many occasions, 
I am now willing to throw aside so glittering a weapon, 
except so far as it may be useful for purposes of rhetorical 
illustration." 

During the winter his Uncle Thomas died and, as has 
been indicated, the property in his uncle's name was 
diverted away from him. However, his own business 
had made him prosperous. By May, 1830, he had 
returned from a visit to the East. "In the short interval 
of four days," he writes his fiancee, "I have contemplated 
the broad expanse of the Chesapeake, tripped gaily along 

1 Among the Williams papers is the following: "I do hereby certify that 
Mr. Wm. Reynolds has attended one course of my lectures on the Practice of 
Physick with diligence and assiduity. 

"Philadelphia, March, 1792— „ „ . ,, ^ 

"A. Kuhn, M. D. 
"Med. Prax. Pfrfr" 

This was a professor's certificate for one department only, of course. The 
first William Reynolds' tomb may still be seen in the old St. James' Church 
at Stanton, to which he was greatly devoted. Ann Caldwell was a daughter 
of Major Andrew Caldwell. 

- Manuscript notes gathered from records by the Misses Williams. These 
descendants have the old clock and prayerbook owned by Alexander Reynolds, 
son of the first William. The family are said to have come from the north of 
Ireland and were devout and active leaders in founding Presbyterianism in 
Delaware, although in later days all became Episcopalians. 



STUDENT AT LAW 41 

the shores of the mighty Susquehanna, pursued its great 
tributary, the Juniata, from its mouth until it dwindles 
in its mountain cradle into a playful little brook, & 
beheld many a famiHar scene reflected in the glassy 
bosom of the Allegheny. I have seen the wild deer 
startled from his mountain solitude, & 'the unhunted 
seek his woods & wilderness again,' & my eyes have 
beheld the genuine original of the magnificent picture 
of the conflagration of the wilderness, which glows 
under the masterly touches of the author of the Pioneer. 
I have seen the lambent flame gliding in spiral revolutions 
to the tops of the loftiest pines, like the fiery serpents 
which visited the children of Israel & I have heard the 
whole forest crackling under the footsteps of the devour- 
ing element. Unfortunately the first burst of its fury 
was over — that which was most combustible was con- 
sumed — the fire was only completing its work of desola- 
tion by gnawing into the hearts of the blackened but 
standing trunks of the decayed pines, yet the traces of 
devastation were visible for forty miles."^ 

As his period of study drew to a close, and the death 
of his uncle threw additional responsibilities upon him, 
as well as the prospect of early marriage, the question of 
permanent settlement presented itself. While at Pitts- 
burgh he writes, on May 9th : "Manifold vv^ere the solici- 
tations of my acquaintances to induce me to settle among 
them. The most powerful motives were urged to per- 
suade me to such a measure, — to the objection that the 
amazing influx of adventurers in my profession had 
blocked up the avenues to notice or preferment, it was 
answered that the ferment would soon subside & all 
the supernumeraries be cast off by the force of private 
necessity & the reaction of public feeling. I was told 
that my own diffidence might cooperate with a crowd of 
competitors to oppress & overshadow me for a time, 
but that sooner or later I must inevitably rise to the level 
in which I v^^as qualified to act. This was the language, 
* * *, of friends who knew me well, but who, like 
others equally impartial, have overrated my capacity & 

1 Letter to his future v/ife. May 2, 1830, The Williams papers. The trans- 
portation was by stage line, of course. 



42 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

believe that I ought to court rather than shun the con- 
flict of the most exalted minds. I confess, * * *, 
that I am not free from that pride of intellect which is 
inseparable from the consciousness of a life devoted to 
study & the acquisition of that knowledge which is not 
familiar to all — but I have none of that vanity which 
would overlook the pretensions of other aspirants, many 
of whom, with one-tenth the erudition I possess, have a 
natural turn for business which in the outset, would 
give them a decided advantage over my constitutional 
delicacy. At the bar of Pittsburgh there is no formid- 
able array of talent, no obstacle which perseverance 
might not surmount — my father & uncle were famiHar 
to all there as men of business and property — the whole 
real-estate (with a trifling exception in Greensburgh) of 
our family is situated there — my brother is already 
settled in that place & the rest of the family is willing 
to be transplanted thither whenever I shall announce my 
concurrence. Here then are powerful reasons, without 
assigning others of equal moment, — yet I hesitate, 
because if any discontent should ensue, I would reflect 
bitterly on myself for unsettling my mother when she 
needed quiet & removing her among strangers when she 
most wanted friends.^ She is urgent on me to move — I 
believe my interest is the sole cause of the alacrity which 
she manifests. I cannot leave the town in which they 
reside — I must be always near them. Honor, duty & 
gratitude forbid my desertion. I will reflect maturely 
& discuss this subject more at leisure." 

On May 27th the Greensburgh court was in session 
and two new homicide cases came up suddenly, and he 
was appointed to defend one of them, but he writes: 
"The apparent hopelessness of the case & the shortness of 
the time (but one night) determined me to decline the 
task. It was accordingly assigned to the oldest & ablest 
counsel & the result was a conviction of 'murder in 
the second degree' — more lenient than the criminal 
deserved." He was invited to assist in the second, but 

1 Mr. Williams' mother lived to a ripe old age and died in her eightieth 
year, on May 14, 1864, at Greensburgh. Her pastor, in a public letter, spoke of 
her long membership in the Presbyterian Church and her great strength ot 
character. 




MRS. ROBKRT WIIJJAMS 

Halftone of a painting by I.ambdiu, about 1854, 

in possession of the Misses Williams, 

Philadelphia 



STUDENT AT LAW 43 

that, too, was declined, because he was invited to serve 
by his "professional brethren who had been employed 
by friends of the prisoner, & not by the criminal." 
These two cases are significant as not only indicating 
his conscientiousness and extreme sense of honor, but 
his disinclination to criminal practice and his consequent 
preference for civil and constitutional law. 

During these days he was an omnivorous reader in 
the hours of relaxation from his legal studies and busi- 
ness. These sedentary habits were all his life productive 
of occasional periods of ill health. During July he writes, 
after an illness: "During my confinement, when my 
strength permitted, I devoted much of my time to the 
perusal of the piquant & unique memoirs of Rousseau 
— a strange medley of commonplace recital, profound 
observation & elevated sentiment. In the affectation 
of a candor & unreserve which would not stop short 
even of the ridiculous, childish & impertinent follies 
of the author he has descended to the most trifling or 
even disgusting details, & the whole work is necessarily 
imbued with the licentiousness of the French manners in 
the age of Louis XIV. I say necessarily, because a writer 
of memoirs has no choice ; he must take things as they 
are, & in the fidelity of the representation consists the 
beauty of the picture. This work, tho' of a cast perfectly 
original & almost inimitable, I do not mean to recom- 
mend." 

During the following autumn his preceptor, Mr. 
Kennedy, was appointed to succeed the late Justice 
Frederick Smith on the Supreme bench of the State, and 
the bar of Pittsburgh gave him a banquet, at which 
young Williams was present. The young attorney now 
found business call him to Pittsburgh more frequently. 
Meantime he was finding time to take up the study of 
spoken French under the direction of a visiting univer- 
sity man from Germany, and he was for the rest of his life 
familiar with current French thought and French litera- 
ture in general. 

The most important event of the passing of the winter 
of 1830-31, however, was his approaching marriage and 
the settlement of a home. For nearly a year he had had 



44 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

to be content with letters from Wilmington, and the 
object of his affection had had not only letters but an 
excellent portrait of her lover, in the form of a miniature, 
made on his previous visit, by Bridport, of Philadelphia.^ 
In April, however, he started over the mountains to bring 
back a bride, and the ceremony which made it possible 
occurred on May 5, 1831.^ With the passing of this 
event the preparatory period of Thomas Williams' 
career was at an end, and the period of personal initiative 
was begun. He was now nearly twenty-five years of 
age, with a long, arduous and scholarly preparation such 
as fell to the lot of few in that day in the region of the 
gateway to the Great West. 

' This miniature, reproduced as frontispiece to this volume, is in the pos- 
session of the family. 

- They were married at Wilmington by Rev. A. K. Russell. 



CHAPTER V 
Pittsburgh and Politics 

A New Unknown Force in the Press 

He Goes to Washington to Protest to President 

Jackson Against the Removal of Deposits 

From the United States Bank 

1832 

The Pittsburgh and her politics which presented 
themselves to Thomas Williams in the autumn of 183 1 
cannot be understood apart from a national view of both, 
and a glance at a map of the United States of this period 
seems almost a necessity to displace our preconceptions 
as to the location of population and the consequent shift- 
ing of commercial and political forces. It is almost 
startling on viewing such a map to see few settlements in 
upper Ohio ; to see the Pottawatomies and Miami Indians 
occupying most of the upper half of Indiana ; to see, 
aside from some settlements along the Wabash, some in 
southern Illinois and a few along the Mississippi and 
Missouri in the general region of St. Louis, almost 
nothing but Indians to the north and west anywhere ; to 
see Arkansas Territory, between the last two western 
States, Missouri and Louisiana, with Mexico bordering 
the latter, and vast Missouri Territory stretching away 
beyond the other two ; to see the Chickasaws and Choc- 
taws still in northern Mississippi and the Cherokees and 
Creeks still in northern Alabama and Georgia — in fact, 
to see a great wedge of population, central in Kentucky 
and flanked on one side by the growing populations on 
the northern side of the Ohio and on the other by the 
Cumberland and Tennessee Valley settlements, which 
made Tennessee possible — all with a real base in Pitts- 
burgh, commercially, if not politically. 
45 



46 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

Here, then, was the new and growing population of 
the West which had long called Pittsburgh to be an 
original base of manufacture and supplies, because of the 
great transportation difficulties over the Alleghenies — 
long even before Roosevelt's first western steamboat was 
launched there in i8ii, and how much more in the score 
of years since that date ! Here, too, was the population 
which had clamored for a political hearing so long and 
so hard until only four years before they had compelled 
the election of one of their number as President, and 
were now offering two others — until they had actually 
become the balance of power between the northern and 
southern seaboard States for the first time. It was 
during these autumn days of 183 1, a few months after 
Thomas Williams' marriage, that the political forces 
began to line up for the coming campaign. President 
Jackson's Democrats were the entrenched forces, with 
the Calhoun element South and the Van Buren section 
North, and the great Tennesseean's personal following 
in the West. The two wings of opposition, largely of 
Federalist ancestry, held many things in common — so 
much so that the anti-Masons, central in western New 
York and spreading chiefly southward toward Pitts- 
burgh and eastward toward New England (dominated 
by one idea, but holding many others, as the Prohibi- 
tionist of the present day), held their convention in Sep- 
tember, with an effort to place McLean, of Ohio, and 
Ellmaker, of Pennsylvania, in nomination, so as to com- 
pel, if possible, the other wing of opposition to unite 
with them. This other wing, even more Federalist in 
antecedents, calling themselves National Republicans, 
and central in Kentucky, the home of Clay, and in Penn- 
sylvania, the home of the United States Bank, waited 
until December and placed Clay and Sergeant (of Penn- 
sylvania) in nomination. The Democratic convention 
waited until March, 1832, and put up Jackson and Van 
Buren, which meant that the tariff or northern wing of 
the Jackson forces was in the ascendant. Now the Pitts- 
burgh region was strongly anti-Masonic and for the 
tariff, but with a vigorous Clay and internal improvement 
element, and it was this kind of a political situation that 



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PITTSBURGH AND POLITICS 47 

the young attorney of Greensburgh, now considering- 
permanent location in Pittsburgh, found facing him. 

From the point of view of commerce and manufac- 
ture, some conception of the strategic position of this 
"Emporium of the West" and "Birmingham of America," 
as it was then commonly styled, may be gained from the 
fact that in the preceding decade far the greatest increase 
of population in the land, outside of New York — 
especially western New York — ^was in Ohio, where it had 
been considerably above 350,000. The gains in the entire 
country, which exceeded 200,000 to a State, were, besides 
New York, as above stated, Ohio, Tennessee and Penn- 
sylvania, while those with gains above 100,000, excepting 
three southern States, were Indiana, Kentucky and Illi- 
nois. Even as early as five years before, 1826, the prod- 
uct of Pittsburgh manufactures were valued at consider- 
ably above two and a half millions, and her exports nearer 
to three millions ($2,781,276). As a steamboat builder, 
Pittsburgh could hardly be said to have had a rival, 
unless Cincinnati might have been given that honor, for 
since Roosevelt's New Orleans was launched, in 1811, 
forty-eight boats had been built at the head of the Ohio 
by 1826, at a value of nearly a half-million dollars.^ This 
was with a population, according to the Barclay census of 
that year, of 10,515 in the city proper. By 1830 this popu- 
lation had increased to 12,540, with about five-sixths as 
many more in the adjoining towns, so that there was a 
total population of above 22,000 about old Fort Pitt in 
the year 1831, when Attorney Williams came in on the 
old Greensburgh turnpike, as he often did, and continued 
down Penn street to the court house, nearly half-way 
from Grant's Hill, down towards the Point. For, be it 
known, the Pittsburgh of that date lay chiefly in a tri- 
angular shelving plain, whose western fort-capped Point 
was but about a half-dozen ordinary blocks from Grant's 
Hill, near the present great thoroughfare of Smithfield 
street. 



' These figures are from the second Pittsburgh "Directory," that issued by 
S. Jones in 1S26, a volume, by the way, which was the first book presented to 
Carnegie Library. The next directory was Harris', of 1837, according to the 
statement of its author. Jones gives 2,997 as the number of employees in the 
iron mills and other branches of manufacture. 



48 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

The lofty headlands, which frowned down through 
the pall from chimneys along the the banks, dimly beheld 
a curious tracery of streets.^ Penn and Liberty streets 
bound a long strip of blocks on and parallel to the Alle- 
gheny banks down to the Fort. The rest of the plain was 
laid out at right angles to the Monongahela, the streets 
consequently all at some sort of an acute angle to Liberty 
street, along which were many triangular lots. These 
thoroughfares on this side, beginning at the Fort, were, 
significantly, West, Short, Ferry, Market, Wood, Smith- 
field and Grant, while from the Monongahela wharf they 
ran, Water, Front, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, etc. 
It was nearly in the centre of the large section between 
Fourth and Fifth streets, and from Wood to the angle 
at Liberty street, that the public square was laid out, 
surrounded by lots and intersected by Market street and 
Diamond alley. Its corners being toward the cardinal 
points of the compass, however, it was known as the 
"Diamond." In this diamond, on the Point and Hill- 
ward sides of Market street, respectively, were the court 
house and market, from which Mr. Williams soon found 
himself habitually passing the two lots on Market street 
and turning Point-ward on the right side of Fourth, 
reaching his ofifice on the second of these two lots, which 
was one of those patented by his grandfather in Decem- 
ber, 1785.- 

"The county court-house," wrote one who remem- 
bered it as a boy, "stood on the west side of Market streei 
in the Diamond ; it was built of brick about the year 1789. 
The main building, in which the courts were held, was 
two stories in height, with a hipped roof, and surmounted 
by a peaked steeple, used as a belfry ; for when the courts 
convened, the crier, old Mr. Kinzer, whom everyone 
knew, rang the bell, as he also did when fires broke out. 

1 The originals of the Barbeau and Keyon map of 1830, here reproduced, 
are so dim that it was deemed best to use a facsimile copy made with con- 
scientious care under the direction of an ofificer of The Fidelity Title and Trust 
Company of Pittsburgh. 

2 As the streets all take nearly half-cardinal directions, points of the com- 
pass tend to drop out of use. This lot was No. 343 of Wood's plat, and, as 
has been said, covered the northern side of Fourth avenue, between Market 
street and Jail alley, now Decatur street — a position almost as near the court 
house and jail as was his home in Greensburgh. The market building now 
occupies the court house site. 



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PITTSBURGH AND POLITICS 49 

This main building covered an area of about seventy 
feet square. The court room, occupying the ground floor, 
was paved with brick about double the size of ordinary 
building brick. Supporting the floor above were six or 
eight fluted wooden columns, about two feet in diameter, 
having Corinthian capitals and resting upon square pan- 
elled pedestals. These I remember were severely gashed, 
having been found convenient by loafers for testing the 
edges of their pen-knives. The Judges' bench against the 
west wall faced the one entrance, from Market Street. 
On either side of the door-way were fluted pillars carry- 
ing a slightly ornamented pediment. There were wings 
to the right and left of the main edifice, one story high, 
each having two rooms with entrances from the street. 
* * * On the opposite side of the street from the court- 
house was a semi-circular market-house, which in its 
sweep enclosed most of the Diamond on that side."^ 

A most rare and quaint conception of the town, in 
the half-cynical, western humor of the time, has been 
handed down that must not be omitted: "The streets, 
running at one angle here, and another there ; narrow, 
roughly paved, filthy, beyond compare, and filled with 
hogs, dogs, drays and noisy children," says a witty but 
unknown writer in the second directory of Pittsburgh, 
that by Jones, in 1826 — five years before Williams' settle- 
ment, "afiford a spectacle of anything but the 'sublime and 
beautiful.' The few— No, not the few, the many large 
and valuable edifices, which are to be seen, are so 
begrimmed and marked by smoke and soot, that they 
afford a most gloomy sight to the visiter from one of the 
fair cities of the east, the north, or even that miniature 
Philadelphia, in the west, Cincinnati. As for lofty, glit- 
tering spires and cupolas, no such unnecessary objects, to 
direct the way-faring man, and embellish the city withal, 
are to be seen among us. The only ambitious structure 
that aspires to any height, within the bounds of the cor- 
poration, is the steeple of the county-court house, in 
which is suspended a most musical bell, that threatens to 
bring down the daring fabric, now 'tottering to its fall' 

» "I-ife and Reminiscences From Birth to Manhood of Wm. G. Johnston," 
Pittsburgh, 1901, p. 67. 



50 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

with every sound of its cracked and crazy voice. This 
solitary spire, standing like a scathed pine in the centre of 
a large 'clearing,' around which the smoke, from heaps of 
burning brush, continually hovers, is no more palpable to 
the optics of the coming traveller, at a reasonable dis- 
tance, than are the houses which enclose the little space, 
hight the 'Public Square,' alias the 'Diamond,' where it 
braves the clouds in the midst. No elegant, commodious 
edifices are beheld, either in the 'East' or 'West ward' 
of the city. Not a single public square, appropriated to 
useful or ornamental purposes, is visible within the same 
extent of corporate limits, save and except the contracted, 
dirty spot of ground just mentioned ; and that is so 
exclusively occupied by the court-house, the market- 
house, road wagons, carts and drays, that but small space 
is left for more attractive objects. On election occasions, 
indeed, from twilight until midnight, the vacant part of 
it is held, in undisturbed possession, by a crowd of clam- 
orous boys, and overgrown children, who alarm the 
vicinage, by shoutings and the display of burning balls, 
and blazing tar barrels, to the great terror of all well- 
disposed persons, and without having before their eyes 
the fear of the city authorities, who, for the time being 
are divested of all manner of authority. 

" 'The man who has stood on the Acropolis, 
And looked down o'er Attica, or he 
Who has sailed where picturesque Constantinople is, 
Or seen Timbuctoo, or has taken tea 
In small-eyed China's crockery-ware metropolis, 
Or sat amidst the bricks of Nineveh, 
May not think much of Pittsburgh's first appearance 
But ask him what he thinks of it a year hence ?' " 

"Yet strange as it may appear, to those who have, 
from their birth onward, inhaled the pure air of trans- 
montane cities," he continues, "there are to be found 
within our city, people, and not a few, who are perfectly 
satisfied to make it their abiding place. Some there 
are, too, who once, or more frequently departed from it, 
in great haste, and shook ofif the dust of their feet against 
it, sturdily resolved never to come within breathing dis- 




THE FIRST PIT' 
Halftoue of a drawin; 



•SBURGH COURT HOUSE, IN THE DIAMOND 
; in "Life and Reminiscences of W'm. G. Johnston,' 
by courtesy of Mr. Johnston 



PITTSBURGH AND POLITICS 5I 

tance of its abominations, who have returned to it, and 
are, even now, numbered among its taxable burghers. By 
what strange infatuation, they could have been attracted 
towards it — whether by an attachment to their natale 
solum — the hope of finding bank notes and substantial 
specie among the heaps of dust and clouds of smoke, or 
by some other equally powerful motive, they alone can 
pronounce. It is, most indubitably, the place of places, 
to gather together the 'commodity,' which is at once a 
necessary evil, the source of all mundane felicity, and the 
god of all mortal idolatry. * * '^ With all these crying 
and trying perils, inconveniences and wants, which daily 
and nightly beset them, the great majority of our citizens 
are doggedly contented with their place of abode. They 
stoutly maintain, that, when the projected water-works, 
the national armory, and the grand canals shall be com- 
pleted ; when the obstructions in the Ohio, above Wheel- 
ing are removed, and when the contemplated indications 
of immense improvement in and about the city, are 
realized, we shall be the most manufacturing, commer- 
cial and altogether flourishing community west of the 
mountains, not excepting Wheeling, Cincinnati, or Louis- 
ville." He recalls the happy village days of old Fort 
Pitt, when life was more simple and classes and wealth 
had not brought complications. He mentions the West- 
ern University at Third street and Cherry alley, an 
embryo law society, an "Apprentices' " library, book- 
sellers, on whose counters are novels of the "Great 
Unknown" and Cooper, and a solitary theatre in Third 
street. Another writer of the "Directory" refers to Judge 
William Wilkins, of the local United States Court, who 
had "long been a prominent man" ; Henry Baldwin, who 
was "still on the stage, an eminent lawyer" ; and among 
the younger men of standing at the bar he notes Walter 
Forward and Richard Biddle as particularly talented. 
About five years later young Williams established him- 
self in his Fourth street office and soon became a force to 
be reckoned with, not only in legal circles, but in political 
and other public movements as well. 

One other subject that commanded the attention of 
the whole country, but particularly the region in which 



52 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

Williams had chosen to settle, was that of transportation. 
Even so early as October 2, 1829, the Pittsburgh Gazette 
published, in great enthusiasm : "We hope to announce, 
next year, the arrival of merchandise from Philadelphia, 
after less than one hundred miles of land transportation," 
and on November 3d told of the first arrival on the 
western section of the Pennsylvania Canal on the 31st 
ultimo.^ Later in the month, the 24th, it stated that there 
were one hundred and seventy-seven miles of canal in 
operation in Pennsylvania. Canals even yet required 
advocates, and when, on February 19, 1830, the editor 
spoke of some propositions to connect Erie and Pitts- 
burgh by one of the new railroads, the great argument 
over the relative merits of canals and railways was well 
under way. On May 6, 1831, after reference to fine stage 
facilities, in which one line makes the trip to Philadel- 
phia in less than four days, he says: "The man who had 
ventured to predict a few years ago that carriages could 
be impelled by steam, with passengers and cargo, at the 
rate of twenty or thirty miles an hour, would have been 
viewed as a visionary. But this has been realized," and 
he boasts that it is no novelty any more in certain parts 
of the country, though, of course, Pittsburgh has none. 
This, and other like vital subjects, early and most pro- 
foundly enchained the attention of the young attorney, 
for even at this date he had the mental attitude of a 
statesman. He entered into the large relations of his 
surroundings, not only in private and professional affairs, 
but even more so, if possible, in those that were 
public.^ 

1 Files of the Gazette in the old Mercantile Library of early Pittsburgh, 
now owned in Knoxville, by the Land Improvement Company, and located in 
the public school building. These rare old files should long ago have been in 
fireproof quarters, and it is to be hoped that the Allegheny County Historical 
Society may prosper and be enabled to protect the great treasures that lie at 
its hands on every side. 

2 A letter of March 6, 1831, to Miss Reynolds, gives this little sidelight on 
his political beliefs. After referring to April 13th as her birthday and suggesting 
it as a good day for the wedding, he also recalls that it is Jefferson's birthday 
also, but adds: "But as I am not of the orthodox party in Politics, any par- 
ticular respect which I might demonstrate for it would be intended for one 
whom I love and respect much more highly than this Prince of Demagogues." 
An earlier letter of April 6, 1S29, expressed his disappointment at Jackson's 
election: "1900 years ago," he writes, "in the Roman Forum, Cicero, influenced 
by motives of patriotism, as well as laudable zeal for his profession, said iet 
arms revere the robe' This declaration was sadly prophetic. Rome heeded 
not the warning of her orator, — and the republic was no more. * * * i have 
lost a President." 






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PITTSBURGH AND POLITICS 53 

It is not known, neither is it very material, exactly 
when Mr. Williams brought his family to Pittsburgh, 
as he had business there so frequently that he was 
identified with its life even before that period. It is 
probable, however, that it was late in 1831 or early in the 
following year.i Not much note of his practice need be 
taken in these early years, even if there were records 
to indicate its character, although that must have been 
of a high class for so young a lawyer, as his public 
life was soon so much more important in its general 
interest. 

The events which brought him into public life were 
those connected with the great upheaval against Presi- 
dent Jackson, on account of his attitude toward the 
United States Bank in the summer of 1832. The cam- 
paign of the following autumn was fast and furious in 
Pittsburgh, and when the election was over the anti- 
JMasonic ticket in Allegheny County was overwhelmingly 
successful — 3,506 to 3,094 in favor of Ritner for Governor, 
and 3,922 to 2,484 in favor of Harmar Denny for Con- 
gress. When it came to the national election, however, 
the anti-Mason candidate, while reducing Jackson's fig- 
ures by 1,864 votes from those of the year 1828, was 
compelled to yield to a Democratic sentiment repre- 
sented by 3,321 to 2,985 in Allegheny County. This, 
together with the increasing anti-Jackson sentiment over 
the country, caused the anti-Masons to still more desire to 
absorb the rest of the opposition, and gave the younger 
men of that opposition renewed zeal, in the belief that 
the time had come for a new party under the banner of 
the old Whig name of the Revolution. 

The Pittsburgh Gazette at this time, with Neville B. 
Craig as editor, was the organ of the anti-Masonic or 
dominant party in Pittsburgh, while the opposition had 
found voice in the Advocate. The latter had not been of 
sufficient force to draw the fire of Mr. Craig, but in 1833 
— at just what time is not known, but it was early in the 
year — the Advocate secured a new junior or associate 



' A letter of October 27, 1831, shows his business largely in Pittsburgh, 
but his home still in Greensburgh ; but another letter in the same month 
shows him looking for a home in "Allegheny Town." 



54 



THOMAS WILLIAMS 



editor, who was not generally known, but who was able 
to pierce the Gazette s armor at several points.^ It was 
the first paper that Mr. Craig had felt constrained to 
reply to much, but during 1833 he gave it a large share of 
his space. On July 31st he writes: *'We received yester- 
day's Advocate at too late an hour to reply to the remarks 
of its editor, in our paper of that day, as fully as we 
could wish ; * * * The knowledge which he has 
obtained of our character, in his eleven months' residence 
here, compels him to say: 'We take it for granted that 
this editor (of the Pittsburgh Ga:::ctte) never asserts what 
he cannot substantiate.' We are grateful for even this 
reluctant act of justice." This would seem to indicate that 
the junior editor of the Advocate settled permanently about 
June, 1832. Mr. Craig was not quite sure who was doing 
this writing, and it is probable that the editorials were 
only occasionally the work of Williams, who was secretly 
trying his wings in that direction.- On August loth Mr. 
Craig says the senior editor of the Advocate remarks that : 
"the junior editor has been amusing himself with the 
editor of the Gaaette," and, in replying, accuses the senior 
editor of adopting "the production of abler pens, as his 
own," and intimating that the senior editor's son does 
also. It was plain, however, that whoever was author of 
the editorials, they were making themselves felt more 
than any other editorial pen in Pittsburgh. These per- 
sonalities were merely incidents of the articles, which 
were, at these dates, concerning attacks on JelTerson as 
a calumniator of Washington, by Mr. Craig. 

On October ist the Pennsylvania Advocate and Pitts- 
burgh Advertiser made its first appearance as a daily. Mr. 
Craig is confident he knows the editor now, and admits 
that "the address of the ne7v editor, to his readers, explana- 
tory of the course which he means to pursue, is entirely 

' The Gasette for the last half of 1833 is now preserved at the Carnegie 
Library, Pittsburgh. The Advocate, previous to 1837, is not known to be in 
existence. 

- In the issue of the Gasette of August 9th there is a plea for Grant's Hill, 
at Fourth and Grant streets, as the best site for a new court house, which the 
commissioners were then considering. After noting that it would be a retired 
and refreshing spot for it, he continues: "In the course of a few years, too, 
the high grounds of our neighboring hills will be more justly appreciated, and 
we may anticipate the day when noble edifices will range along the hills, and 
make the place now contemplated as the seat of the public buildings, almost 
the center of our population. 




c-/> 



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PITTSBURGH AND POLITICS 55 

satisfactory, and is well written." The controversies are 
now carried on with fewer personalities and on a higher 
plane, judging from its reflection in the Gazette. "It is 
true," says Mr. Craig, "'as the Advocate asserts, that the 
cabinet is now filled by old federalists, but it is also true 
that these men have cast their skins, and have become 
old democrats after the new fashion." Evidently the Advo- 
cate was trying to account for the high-handed powers 
exercised by Jackson by showing that he believed in 
a strong government, as did the Federalists. It is unfor- 
tunate that no copy of the Advocate of this date can be 
found. 

At this point a significant paragraph from the Gazette 
may, for an instant, divert the attention: "To show the 
commanding position which our city occupies," writes 
Mr. Craig, "it is only necessary to mention that, when 
Philadelphia wishes to form a connection with the great 
West her canal terminates at Pittsburgh — when a com- 
munication, by water, between the capital of this great 
republic and its western members, is sought, its only 
outlet to the west is fixed on the borders of our city — 
when New York wishes for a shorter and more secure 
rout to the great valley of the Mississippi, than that by 
the stormy lakes of the north, she intersects the Alle- 
gheny, at Olean, and pursuing its sinuous course, arrives 
at our landing place — and finally, when Baltimore plans 
a great railroad, to the Ohio, she discovers that her most 
natural, shortest, and cheapest rout is along the Yough- 
iogeny and our own Monongahela, to the confines of our 
city." And this paragraph has in it the seeds of one of 
the greatest struggles, not only in the life of the editor 
of the Advocate, but in Pennsylvania and the nation as 
well — a struggle that extends in all its vigor even to our 
own day, and still has one of its seats of operation within 
a block of the young editor's law office, where he prob- 
ably did his work. 

A far different struggle was attracting attention now, 
however. The continued attacks of President Jackson 
on the United States Bank, at Philadelphia, and the 
final removal of government deposits stirred the whole 
country. Pittsburgh called a meeting for protest on Jan- 



56 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

nary 20th, following (1834). This provided for gathering 
signatures to a protest, which was in due time forwarded 
and presented by Congressman Denny. This was not 
deemed vigorous enough, and on February ist a call, 
signed by four columns of names, was issued, the name 
of Thomas Williams being among them. This is the first 
public appearance of his name in the Gazette} On the 
evening of the 8th the meeting was held at George 
Beale's, and the following delegates to Washington were 
appointed : Isaac Lightner, Alba Fiske, Wm. Licky, John 
Sampson, Thomas Fairman, Saml. Fahnestock, Thomas 
Williams and J. H. Shoenberger. Mr. Benjamin Bake- 
well was unable to go. 

Within two weeks they were in Washington. "The 
first object which strikes the eye on entering Washing- 
ton," wrote Mr. Williams to his wife, on February 23d, 
"is the Capitol, occupying a commanding position at one 
extremity of the City, & constituting altogether the 
finest piece of Architecture I have ever beheld. Its 
material is a fine white fire-stone so nearly resembling 
marble, that at the distances of twenty paces, its real 
quality can scarcely be discovered. The symmetry & 
proportions of the whole building are altogether fault- 
less — the tout ensemble seems exactly to fill the eye of the 
beholder; he would not wish to add or subtract from the 
beautiful whole. It is composed of a center and two 
wings, the former embracing the Rotunda & the latter 
occupied by the two houses of Congress — the whole 
fronting & overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue, a noble 
street about 180 feet wide & traversing the whole 
city. At the other extremity of the Avenue, facing 
the Capitol & in a position not much inferior stands 
the famous White House, the abode of Royalty, or rather 
I might say the grand Kitchen of the Nation, flanked 
by the Departments of State & Treasury on the one 
hand, & War and Navy on the other. To this abode 
then we repaired soon after our arrival, & were, after 
a few minutes detention in the ante-room ushered into 

^ The Allegheny Democrat had had a notice of the organization of the 
"Young Men's National Republican Association" on the 2d of October, 1833, 
at which Mr. Williams, Wm. M. Shinn and Samuel Fahnestock were the com- 
mittee on resolutions. Gazette of September 6, 1834. 







THE WHITE HorSl-; IN iSj3 

Halftone of a vit-w iu The People's Magazine of June 15, 1833, i" the 

Congressional Librarj- 



PITTSBURGH AND POLITICS 57 

the presence of the Chief Magistrate by Judge Wilkins.^ 
We were courteously received, but were scarcely seated 
when the General opened his batteries against the arch- 
enemy, the Bank of the United States, & poured forth 
such a volley of abuse as would have done honor to the 
columns of the Globe itself. Little as I had been in the 
habit of contemplating him to be, I confess I was amazed, 
shocked at an exhibition of coarseness & vulgarity 
which I had not been prepared to expect. There was an 
utter want of that dignity which overawes impertinence 
& enforces respect. He even so far forgot his high 
official station as to contradict flatly our representative 
Mr. Denny, & to assert that he knew more about the 
condition of the State Banks than all of us together. I 
will not relate more of his conversation now. It shall be 
reserved for a more opportune occasion — for a fire-side 
entertainment. The appearance of the General is much 
more prepossessing than his conversation — very much 
resembling the portraits which you meet with every- 
where, but not strikingly grave or venerable. 

"How widely different in every respect," he continues, 
"is the subject of the foregoing observations from the 
truly great men who abound in Washington, First 
of all, it becomes me to name the venerable Chief Justice 
Marshall than whom no man in the Country is so gen- 
erally beloved. Judge Baldwin- introduced me to him, 
& according to Judge B. I had the good fortune to make 
a favorable impression. The Chief Justice was pleased to 
pay me a compliment of which, I assure you, I am not a 
little vain. The late Vice-President Jno. C. Calhoun 

* Judge William Wilkins, a strong supporter of President Jackson, had 
become a Senator from Pennsylvania. What is said of him here is purely on 
a political basis and due to the great contest which the anti-Tackson men of the 
Senate were making against the administration. Senator VVilkins was a native 
of Allegheny County, born in 1779. He attended Dickinson College for a time 
and read law at Carlisle also. He was admitted to the Pittsburgh bar in 1801. 
He was elected to the Legislature in 1820, but resigned and became President 
Judge of the old Fifth District. In 1824 he was made United States district 
Judge for western Pennsylvania and in 1S28 was elected to Congress, but 
dechned to serve. Three years later he became Senator and was chairman of 
the committee which reported the bill authorizing President Jackson to use 
force against Nullification in the South. In 1833 Pennsylvania cast her electoral 
vote for him for the Vice-Presidency. After this visit, described by Mr. 
Williams. Wilkins was made Ambassador to Russia. 

2 Henry Baldwin, born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1780, graduated 
from Yale College, studied law and settled in Pittsburgh. In 1817 he was 
elected to Congress as a Federalist several times. He was made a Justice of 
the Supreme Court of the United States in 1830. 



S8 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

is one of the most agreeable men in Washington. 'What 
a pity/ everyone says, 'he is a Nullifier.' There is a 
great array of talent now in the Senate, & scarcely a 
day passes without a skirmish. But the Administration 
is greatly overmatched in every Debate. Judge Wilkins 
was speaking when we arrived & for two or three days 
afterwards. * * * Clay & Webster annihilated the 

Pennsylvania Senator on Friday a week. Mrs. 

who was present on that occasion was delighted with 
the manner in which Clay disposed of him. Mr. Sprague 
of Maine is my favorite of all the Speakers I have heard.^ 
He and Mr. Chambers of Md. were tilting yesterday & 
the day before with Shipley & Forsyth, & I assure you 
they dealt some hard blows. Chambers cuts & slashes 
terribly, but he wants the proper dignity. He went so 
far as to compare Van Buren to a Red Fox, by reciting 
one of Esops' Fables, & truly Van Buren does very much 
resemble that animal. * * * Mr. Preston of S. Carolina 
is by all accounts the most eloquent man in either House. 
If I could hear him & Clay & Calhoun, I would leave 
Washington at once. The Lower House is a perfect 
mob. You are not admitted on the floor there & you can 
hear nothing from the Galleries. In the Senate, it is quite 
different. I have the free entree there & am always 
present when it is in session."^ 

While he was in Washington the people of Pitts- 
burgh, on February 27th, were perfecting the organiza- 
tion of a Historical Society, and made Mr. Williams a 
member of its governing council. The officers were : 
president, Benj. Bakewell ; vice-president, W. W. Fet- 
terman ; treasurer, John Harper ; secretary, Wilson 
McCandless; librarian, Charles H. Kay, and council, 
Richard Biddle, Dr. Wm. Addison, M. B. Miltenberger, 
George Darsie, George W. Jackson, Robert S. Simpson 

1 Peleg Sprague was a native of Massachusetts, born in 1793, a graduate of 
Harvard College and Litchfield Law School. He was admitted to the bar at 
Augusta, Maine, in 1815. He was in the State Legislature and in Congress as 
a Whig, and from 1829 to 1835 was a Senator from that State. He was after- 
ward an eminent Boston lawyer. He survived all the members of this 
famous Senate — and had a great reputation as a debater. 

2 Letters among the Williams papers. 




WILLIAM WII.KINS 

Halftone of a painting by Bowman, about 1830, in possession of Miss 

Henrietta W. Sanders, Philadelphia 



PITTSBURGH AND POLITICS 59 

and Thomas Williams.^ Mr. Williams was but twenty- 
eight years of age at this time. 

He left Washington on March 3d and the next day 
was at Philadelphia. "We walked to the State House 
yard," he writes on the 4th to his wife, "to attend a 
Jackson meeting, which was sufficiently small to enable 
us to hear speeches from George M. Dallas & Richard 
Rush, & many a fierce gesture at the Marble Palace in 
Chestnut St."- By the 6th they were in Pittsburgh, 
and on that afternoon a great meeting at the court house 
heard their long and ably written report, which occupied 
nearly three columns. The President argued his case 
hotly. " T never will return the deposits to the Bank of 
the United States — to a bank having the whole of her 
capital — thirty-five millions — at the disposal of one man, 
for corrupt purposes — I will protect the morals of the 
people — see the large amount of the funds of the govern- 
ment applied to corrupt the press — it was my duty to 
take the deposits from such a corrupt institution — I can't 
bow down and worship the golden calf — the Spanish 
inquisition could not compel me to worship the monster. 
See, as Mr. F. [Frelinghuysen] says — see Mr. Biddle 
sitting with his arms folded, his directors around him, 
calm as a summer's morning — his salary is going on — he 
cares nothing for the distress of the people — there he sits, 
brooding over his ten millions of specie, when he 
acknowledged, on oath, before Congress, that six millions 
were enough. The experiment shall be tried with the 
State Banks — I will protect the State Banks — they would 
have been destroyed by the vile monster, before this time, 
if I had not sustained them. — Go home, gentlemen, and 
tell your branch to act harmoniously with the State 
banks and relieve the people. I will not molest the Bank 
of the United States or its branches, but I will support 
the State banks.' " 

The President was immovable. "We cannot conclude 
our report," it says in closing, "without adding the expres- 
sion of our sincere conviction that to remedy the evils 

1 The Pittsburgh Gazette of March 4, 1834, at Carnegie Institute. 

^ The United States Bank was the present Custom House, and, as there 
was no Drexel Building intervening, it was in full view and just across the 
street from State House square. 



6o THOMAS WILLIAMS 

which now oppress the whole country, much depends on 
the proper action of the people of our own state — much 
is in their power. They may not only confer great advan- 
tages on themselves, but permanent and greater advan- 
tages to the whole union. Pennsylvania has certain 
great interests, identical, we believe, with the whole 
union — these are the protection of home industry, the 
proper application of the public money for internal 
improvements, and the preservation of a sound currency 
— let us, then, by all proper means, urge our fellow 
citizens to cast from them all party demagogues, no 
matter by what name they may be called, and all aspir- 
ants for office, who have only in view their own fortunes 
and political advancement, and elect to office such men as 
understand the true interests of the people, and will not, 
for selfish reasons, sacrifice those interests."^ This was 
signed by the delegates, Mr. Williams' name being next 
to the last, and, said he in a letter to his wife on the 19th 
of February : 'T have been obliged to take a memorandum 
of his [the President's] conversation," which indicates 
that the report was prepared by him largely, if not 
entirely. 

The meeting passed vigorous resolutions, and 
appointed Messrs. Craig, Fetterman, Brown, Darragh, 
Patterson and Darlington to be delegates to a State con- 
vention in April, at Harrisburg, to take measures "to 
restore the prosperity of the country." On the 15th a 
meeting was held at the hall of the Young Men's Society 
to organize a "Political Association" from all parties. 
Messrs. Bakewell, Burke and Fairman were made a com- 
mittee to outline the aims, which were: "ist. The Con- 
stitution and the Laws. 2nd, A Sound Currency. 3rd, 
A Protective Tarifif. 4th, A Great System of Internal 
Improvement. 5th, A System of General Education." 
It was to support men only who would stand for these 
principles, let them be "Jackson men, anti-Masons, or 
National Republicans." A committee was appointed to 
draft a constitution, and it consisted of Robert Burke, 
Thomas Williams, Isaac Lightner, John Irwin, Thomas 
Fairman and Thomas Liggett; the last-mentioned, being 

» The Gazette of March 6th. 



PITTSBURGH AND POLITICS 6l 

a pronounced anti-Mason, refused to serve. This, how- 
ever, proved to be the beginning of the Whig movement 
of '34 in Pittsburgh, with Thomas Williams as one of 
its first managers and its ablest leader in advocating 
their principles.^ 

It will be well, however, in this heyday of political 
life, not to overlook a little news item that appeared in 
the Gazette, a bit of correspondence from Columbia, on the 
Susquehanna River, dated April 5th : "With the opening 
of the rail road, between this city and Lancaster, and the 
events connected with the ist of April, there has been no 
lack of subjects to converse about the past week. On 
Monday, three horse cars, with passengers arrived here, 
from Lancaster, on the rail road. They returned in one 
hour and a quarter — distance about 11 miles. On 
Wednesday, the locomotive made its first trip to this 
place, with three passenger cars in train. On Thursday 
and yesterday the horse cars were out; and yesterday 
afternoon the locomotive again made its appearance with 
a train of cars attached — time 57 minutes. * * * The 
i6th of April is the day appointed for the opening of the 
road the whole distance between this and Philadelphia. 
It is expected that a train of cars will leave this borough 
on the morning of that day, proceeding to the city, and 
return on the following."- New York was succeeding 
in getting good transportation entry to the trade of the 
West by canals ; Baltimore was plainly going to succeed 
by a railroad, while Philadelphia was determined to fight 
her still greater obstacles by both means. Pittsburgh 
rejoiced in the efforts of them all, although she saw 
Wheeling as a rival in the aims of the rail line from 
Baltimore — however, it is not well to anticipate. 

^ On the 25th the first cargo arrived by way of the completed canal and 
portage railroad in the mountains eleven days from Philadelphia, and there 
was great canal enthusiasm. 

*The Pittsburgh Gazette of April ii, 1834, Carnegie Institute. 



CHAPTER VI 

The Rising Leader of the Whigs and Editor of 
Their Organ — "The Advocate" 

The Great Campaign of '34 

The political forces of Pittsburgh were fully lined up 
for action by the close of April, 1834, with the Whigs in 
aggressive leadership in an attempt to absorb the best 
elements of the old parties. On April 30th a big Whig 
jubilee was announced for May 6th, in Allegheny, to 
rejoice over the late victorious sweep over the State 
of New York. General Marks was to preside, and H. 
M. Brackenridge, Walter Forward, N. B. Craig and a 
score of other prominent men were vice-presidents, while 
Robert Burke, S. P. Darlington and a dozen others, 
including Mr. Williams, were the Committee of Arrange- 
ments. The jubilee was a great success ; "undoubtedly," 
said the Ga::ette, "greatly the largest ever held in Western 
Pennsylvania." The Gazette estimated the attendance at 
about 3,000 and the Advocate's figures were even double 
those of the Gazette. "Yesterday," said the Advocate, 
"was indeed a proud day in the history of Pittsburgh. 
Never, we believe, in the Western country, has a meeting 
so large and in every way respectable, assembled. There 
was but one voice, and one sentiment, actuating the vast 
assemblage ; and that voice and sentiment, as it rose like 
the murmuring of many waters, spoke the language of 
men who were determined to be free. Not a single dis- 
senting voice was to be heard, when the resolutions, part 
of which we give today, were offered and adopted. 

"The following resolutions were offered by Thos. 
Williams, prefaced by a few brief and eloquent remarks, 
and unanimously adopted. 

"Resolved, that this meeting do reaffirm the solemn judg- 
ment of the American Senate, 'that the President of the United 
States, in the late Executive proceedings, in relation to the 
62 




PRK^^ID^;^■T andri^w jackson 

Halftone of a Bisbee print of 1833 in the Congressional Library 



LEADER OF THE WHIGS 63 

public revenue, has assumed upon himself authority and power 
not conferred by the Constitution and laws, but in derogation of 
both.' 

"Resolved, that the recent Executive Protest against the 
foregoing resolution of that body, is a manifest breach of the 
privileges of the Senate, unwarranted by the Constitution or 
practice of this government — a personal indignity to its mem- 
bers, and a lawless and incendiary appeal to the people for the 
purpose of impairing public confidence in the perfection of the 
system, and producing a serious alteration of its framework, 
or the practical abandonment of some of its provisions. 

"Resolved, That the doctrines announced in this extra- 
ordinary paper, are not less offensive and exceptionable, than 
the manner of its publication, involving a claim of power, which, 
if allowed, would at once destroy the whole system of checks and 
balances, render the Executive independent of Congress, and 
effect a revolution in this government, by the union of the 
sword and the purse, which would leave behind it nothing of a 
republic but the name. 

"Resolved, that the functions assigned by the Constitution 
to the President, are in their nature executive or legislative, but 
not judicial; that the protest in question neither proposes nor 
refers to any executive proceedings — is not justified by any of 
the legislative powers conferred on the President ; but its whole 
essence consisting in the conduct which it charges on the Senate, 
and the judgment which it pronounces on that conduct is (by 
the President's own showing) in its offices, and in all its char- 
acteristics essentially judicial; the assumption of a power to 
which the Executive has no color of right, an impeachment and 
condemnation of the Senate, intended to have the same moral 
influence, though not followed by a judgment of forfeiture like 
that which he has pronounced and executed on the Bank of the 
United States. 

"Resolved, That the Senate of the United States are equally 
the representatives of the people, equally responsible to and no 
further removed from the constituent body, in the manner of 
selection, than the President himself — that the known character 
of that body is a sufficient answer to his accusatory appeal, and, 
from the nature of their constitution, and their acknowledged 
wisdom, they are more likely to arrive at just conclusions, and 
to be exempt from sinister influences, than any single individual, 
however exalted. 

"Resolved, That it is not merely the right, but the bounden 
duty of the Senate to resist all assumptions of power, not dele- 
gated by the Constitution, and that to deny them this privilege. 



64 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

would be to strip them of their most appropriate and useful 
functions, and to insure a complete immunity to the President, 
whenever the other branch of the Legislature, either through 
hasty popular impulse, party discipline, or that corruption to 
which the President has supposed them accessible, shall prove 
faithless to the trust with which they have been invested. 

"Resolved, That the President's oath of office, wherein he 
engages to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the 
United States,' does not imply a right to violate that instrument, 
or a power of construction which shall supersede the jurisdic- 
tion of the Supreme Court, or take away the vested rights of the 
citizen, without the judgment of his peers. 

"Resolved, That the appointment of high officers without the 
advice or consent of the Senate, and the unqualiiied power of 
removal asserted by the President, are violations of the spirit 
of the Constitution, and derogatory to the rights of the Senate, 
and fatal to the independence of the officer.' 

"Resolved, That if 'the concurrent authority of President 
Wasliington, of the Senate, and the House of Representatives, 
members of whom had taken an active part in the Convention 
which framed the Constitution/ be sufficient to establish the 
right of removal to any extent, the force of the argument would 
not be weakened by the superadded examples of subsequent 
Presidents to Congresses, and the solemn judgments of the 
highest judicial tribunals in the country, in its application to 
the question of the constitutionality of the bank of the United 
States. 

"Resolved, that the Legislatures of the States are equally 
the servants of the people with those they have presumed to 
instruct — that the right of instruction is a power not involved 
in their own election — is no wise legislative in its character or 
tendency, and therefore, by the logic of the President, not 
obligatory on the Senate. 

"Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting are due to the 
'refractory' Senators who have been singled out as the object 
of Executive denunciation, for their bold and eloquent vindica- 
tion of their own privileges, and the rights and liberties of the 
American people, in defiance of the machinations of party and 
menaces of power."" 

• This, of course, refers to the removal of the Secretary of the Treasury 
and also the appointment of personal agents to inspect the banks. It will be 
recalled, of course, by every student of history, that Roger B. Taney was 
appointed by Jackson to the removed Secretary's place. This general knowl- 
edge of national history must be largely assumed in the reader, in the limited 
space intended to describe one man's relation to it. Taney was also a gradu- 
ate of Dickinson College thirty years before Williams received his diploma. 

' Reprinted from the Daily Advocate of May 7th by the Gazette of the same 
day. 



LEADER OF THE WHIGS 65 

Among more than a dozen toasts that followed was 
one : "To the Memory of the first President of the United 
States. — Let no military chieftain, who has made the 
Emperor Napoleon his model, dare assume the title of 
the 'Second Washington.' " 

One feature of the meeting was the presentation by 
Mr. Bakewell of a tentative Whig ticket for Congress 
and Assembly after the speeches were made, Harmar 
Denny, the then present anti-Mason representative in 
Congress, heading the ticket. The Advocate adopted the 
ticket, but the Gazette wished a regular convention. 

Meanwhile, on May loth, Mr. Williams wrote his wife, 
then visiting in Baltimore: "My time has been entirely 
engrossed by preparations for the Great Whig Festival, 
many of the preliminary arrangements being thrown on 
my shoulders as a member of the committee. A place 
was assigned me, quite against my will & in spite of my 
excuses & protestations, among the orators on that occa- 
sion ; the concoction of the resolutions was devolved on 
me ; and between committee meetings at night, visitations 
during the day at my office — three Arbitrations this week 
& the preparation of a Daily Article for the Advocate, you 
may readily conjecture that I have not had much time 
left for you.^ * * * 'p^g Whig Festival of Tuesday 
was a spectacle I shall never forget. I have already 
described it in the Advocate (the Weekly copy of which 
I have sent you). I therefore shall confine myself to the 
leading incidents. But first of all I hope you will be 
satisfied that the complimentary notices of my perform- 
ances were inserted by others without any knowledge or 
participation of mine. I never have witnessed such a 
crowd on any former occasion ; if I should compute it 
at 7000, the estimate would scarcely be too great. The 
roofs of the neighboring houses were covered & the win- 
dows of the large cotton factory & all the houses in the 
vicinity were covered with heads. A gentleman told 
me that he counted 246 female heads in the windows of 
the factory & 88 of the same sex on Mr. Blackstock'.-s 



' It should be remembered that he was not yet generally known as the 
political editor of the Advocate. It was only surmised, even by the editor of 
the Gazette, and Mr. Snowdon, of the Mercury, the Democratic organ. 



66 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

porch. After the object of the meeting was stated by 
the Chairman, as the resolutions were in my hand-writ- 
ing, I was obliged to mount the platform & address the 
multitude. I had declined speaking previously, because 
I had no leisure for preparation, but the scene was too 
inspiring & the occasion too good to be thrown away. 
I made a bold plunge therefore, resolved to stand the 
hazard of the die & I was successful beyond expecta- 
tion, as was evinced by the signs of approval which 
followed my remarks, & the congratulations which were 
showered upon me afterwards. I was followed by 
Judge Brackenridge in a very eloquent speech which 
you will see published. Burke, Fetterman, McCandless 
& one or two others addressed the meeting with great 
effect. The toasts were successively read by the Chair- 
man, Mr. Burke and myself & I assure you it strained my 
lungs to throw a voice over that vast assemblage. A 
ticket was nominated for Congress & the State Legis- 
lature, on which your humble servant might have had a 
place if he had strongly desired it. Delegates were also 
appointed to the great Whig Convention to be held at 
Harrisburgh on the 27th inst. Judge Brackenridge, Mr. 
Bakewell & myself are three of the number. I permitted 
them to nominate me without pledging myself to serve. "^ 

On May 13th a Whig Convention of the city was 
called for the 29th, to prepare for the county convention 
on the 31st. "We willingly publish, today," said the 
Gazette, "the call for this convention, and presume that it 
will be scarcely necessary for us to say, that we consider 
the adoption of this course, by its movers, as ill advised, 
and not calculated to unite the friends of a sound cur- 
rency, and the Constitution." He showed that in the last 
election the average vote given by the combined Jackson 
and National Republican forces was 2,775, ^'^^ the aver- 
age anti-Masonic vote 2,359, ^"^ that the National 
Republicans claimed 1,000, although he believed it to be 
not more than 700. He urged them to wait. 

Meanwhile the Constitutional Republican Association 
of the city that had been organized by Burke, Lightner, 
Williams and others issued a public address in pamphlet 

' Williams papers. 



LEADER OF THE WHIGS 67 

form, which was sent out by their Committee of Corre- 
spondence, of which Mr. WilHams was chairman, on the 
19th. This association was the heart of the Whig move- 
ment in western Pennsylvania, and this long and power- 
ful address was in Williams' characteristic style. "The 
Government under which we live, has now been in opera- 
tion nearly half a century — scarcely long enough to 
develope its virtues and imperfections, without a crisis of 
sufficient magnitude to test its self-preserving powers, 
and under the zealous guardianship of the generation by 
which it was established. That race of men has now 
passed away; the last of the Signers of the Declaration 
of Independence, and all but one surviving remnant of 
those who framed the Constitution under which we live, 
have gone to join their illustrious compeers in another 
world, leaving to us the responsible task of preserving 
unimpaired, this great result of their united counsels and 
enlightened patriotism. Under the shadow of this well- 
compacted fabric, we have lived happy and free, and 
have become a prosperous and powerful people, inso- 
much that if a radical alteration were now seriously pro- 
posed, we should perhaps answer with one voice, like the 
Barons of England — 'we are unwilling to change laws 
and constitutions of our forefathers, which have been of 
old time used and approved.' " The address gathers 
momentum and fire as it proceeds to show the attacks of 
the President upon constitutional integrity. "When the 
clause of the Constitution directing the President to 'take 
care that the laws should be faithfully executed,' was 
interpreted to authorize a right of interpretation, and, by 
necessary consequence, a right of violation of all law, 
thereby erecting the minister of the law into its judge, 
the heresy was pointed out and the people were warned, 
but unfortunately the danger was not justly appreciated. 
Now mark the consequence! This indentical doctrine, 
which was regarded as inoffensive — the republican 
novelty, of less than two years' growth, has shot up into 
the stature of perfect manhood, and assuming the form 
of a two-edged sword in the hands of the Executive, has 
cleft down, at a single blow, the co-ordinate departments 
of the Government and the constitutional rights of the 



68 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

citizen. * * * Yes, fellow citizens, expediency, the 
tyrants' argument, has become with us one of the reasons 
of state, and on a very doubtful expediency, the jurisdic- 
tion of the courts is superseded, the right of trial by jury 
refused to the stockholders of this institution [the United 
States Bank], and the meeting of Congress anticipated 
with an indecent haste, for the obvious purpose of shield- 
ing the act from reversal by the interposition of that 
monstrous engine of arbitrary rule, the Veto power — thus 
converting that which was designed by the Constitution 
as a shield of defense, into a sword of attack. * * * 
The Government is declared to be his Government — the 
Secretaries, his Secretaries, and a power undisguisedly 
claimed over the public monies, which, if allowed, will 
inevitably revolutionize this Government, and enable the 
President with sword in one hand and the purse in the 
other, to stride to Empire over the ruins of this Repub- 
lic." He follows with the subject of a sound currency 
with equal force, and closes with a powerful appeal on 
protection and internal improvement, unfortunately too 
extended for limited space, but worthy the perusal of 
every student of American history. He shows Pennsyl- 
vania's leadership in manufactures and refers to her 
great internal improvement system. "Who doubts," he 
continues, "but that for the blighting policy of this 
Administration, the waters of the Potomac and the 
Monongahela would ere long have been mingled together 
in fraternal embrace, and the gigantic improvements of 
our own State pushed at once into the interior of our 
Western neighbour, draining the commerce of the Lakes 
and the rich agricultural products of the State of Ohio 
into the lap of Pennsylvania — furnishing new outlets for 
our manufactures, and urging our city rapidly forward 
to the consumation of that high destiny marked out for 
her by Nature, in her commanding position, and inex- 
haustible resources?" "National Republicans! Seced- 
ing Jacksonites! Anti-Masons! we stand indifferent 
betw^een you. Our party — the Whig Party, is composed 
of many of you all."^ 

On the 27th the State convention met at Harrisburg, 

'■ Pamphlet among the Williams papers. 



LEADER OF THE WHIGS 69 

with Thomas Bakewell, Joseph Patterson, George Dar- 
sie, Thomas WiUiams, Neville B. Craig and Samuel 
Church as the Allegheny County delegates. Mr. Craig 
writes his paper on the 29th that he sees this "body is 
called the Whig Convention" by the Philadelphia papers ; 
"this is wrong," he added ; it was only a protesting con- 
vention against executive usurpation, remarks which 
still more betoken the attitude of the anti-Mason editor 
of Pittsburgh against absorption by the new party, at 
least in Pittsburgh. On the 29th the convention closed, 
after adopting resolutions and an address to the people 
of Pennsylvania, and appointing a committee to memo- 
rialize Congress. This committee, headed by John Ser- 
geant, of Philadelphia, and numbering thirty members 
over the State, included Mr. Williams. 

While he was gone the Whigs and anti-Masons at 
home had held separate conventions, and by June 12th 
all three parties had nominated tickets for Congress, the 
Whigs nominating Harmar Denny, the popular anti- 
Mason, in hopes of uniting the Whigs and anti-Masons, 
who again nominated Mr. Denny also, but plainly 
indicated that they were to preserve their party organi- 
zation. Meanwhile the delegates of the Harrisburg 
convention reached Washington, arid on June 3d their 
memorial was presented to the Senate. The response to 
it by Senator Daniel Webster is so noble that it ought 
to be familiar to every Pennsylvanian, either by birth or 
adoption. "Is this, sir," said he, "the voice of Pennsyl- 
vania? That is a question of very great interest at the 
present moment. The whole country has a concern in it. 
Is this the voice of Pennsylvania? If this be her voice, then 
we may hope that the day of relief, and of safety is 
approaching. If this be her voice, it is a voice of health 
and of rescue. The work of relief will prosper, it will 
proceed if her heart be in it, and her strong hand be put 
to it. Pennsylvania is one of those great central States, 
on whose determination, and on whose conduct, every- 
thing in regard to the future condition of the country 
seems to hang. If this center moves, with intelligence, 
union and patriotism, nothing can resist its force. For 
one, I believe that the sentiments expressed in this 



70 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

memorial are, to a very great extent, the sentiments of 
Pennsylvania. I believe this is her voice. The proofs, I 
think, are satisfactory. * * * She has been an ardent 
friend and steady supporter of the present Chief Magis- 
trate. "^ * '" Three times she has given him her vote 
for the Presidency. '^ * * It is not wonderful that she 
should be slow and reluctant in withdrawing confidence 
where she had bestowed it in such bountiful measure. 
* * * It was a Convention, consisting of two hundred 
and fifty delegates, coming from forty-four counties, out 
of fifty-two, which the state contains. * * * The 
Convention was not composed altogether of delegates 
from any one political party." After speaking of anti- 
Masons and Whigs, he continues: "Seventy-five Jack- 
son men, as they have been called, are on the roll of its 
members. Will not this striking fact produce its effect 
on gentlemen here? * * * 

"The memorial speaks of Pittsburgh. It is now 
within a few days of twelve months since, for the first 
time I visited that city," he continues, "so interesting 
by its position, by its rapid growth, by the character of 
its inhabitants, and by the history of early occurrences 
in its neighborhood. It was then all animation, activity 
and cheerfulness. If the smoke of numerous manufac- 
tories and workshops somewhat darkened the air and 
obscured the view of the charming scenery around, it 
gave evidence, still, that occupations were prosperous, 
and that labor was well paid, and happy in its daily toil. 
Of thirty-thousand inhabitants, it is said two-thirds 
of them owe their means of livelihood to manufactures ; 
and it may be asked, with emphasis and with alarm, 
unless activity be restored again to the loom and the 
forge, what is to become of this mass of human strength 
and industry, thus thrown out of employment? 

"If, as this memorial alleges," to give but one more 
short extract from this extended speech, "the manufac- 
turing industry is depressed and suffering, if it be dis- 
couraged, crippled, and threatened with ruin, who shall 
save it, if Pennsylvania shall not aid in its rescue? 
Where will it find support, if she abandon it? We have 
followed her lead, in fostering manufactures, and sus- 



LEADER OF THE WHIGS 7I 

taining domestic industry, believing this to be a part of 
her settled policy, interwoven with her system, and that 
her purposes with regard to it were fixed and settled."^ 

Mr. Williams returned to Pittsburgh on July 27th 
and writes his wife, who is visiting in Wilmington still : 
"Business is at a lower ebb than it has been for years — 
almost as low as in Baltimore itself which presents a 
picture of universal decay." The Whig, an Allegheny 
paper, also demanded his services, as well as the Advo- 
cate. "Business is yet dull, very dull," he writes on the 
31st, "but my fellow citizens have been providing employ- 
ment for me in the editorship of the IVhig — more honor 
than profit," On August 14th he writes : "I have had the 
good fortune to render the Advocate very popular. Its 
patronage is growing very fast & it bids fair soon to 
drive the old Gazette in a great measure out of circula- 
tion."- "The frequent calls on me in the capacity of 
Editor of a daily paper," he writes on August 24th, 
" * * * the delicate health of Mr. Marks who has had 
two several attacks of cholera (from both of which he has 
fortunately recovered) devolving on me an additional 
amount of literary labor — all have conspired to engross 
a very large proportion of my time & render me of- 
necessity a very pattern of industry." 

The Whigs were by this time making great gains, 
as even the Gazette freely admitted, and the Advocate, 
which Mr. Craig paid more attention to than all the other 
papers combined, estimated party strength as follows : 
Whigs, 2,390; anti-Masons, 1,850, and Jacksonites, 1,820. 
The occasional tilts between Mr. Craig and the still 
unannounced political editor of the Advocate served to 
enliven the strenuous contest, especially when the 
Unknown's classical learning, now and then evident in 
the Advocate's columns, is attributed to "Dictionaries of 
Quotation." "If the editor [of the Gazette, who states 
that he owns one] is possessed of a 'Dictionary of Quota- 
tions,' he is happier than we, and no doubt his necessities 

1 The National Intelligencer, of Washington, D. C, June lo, 1834. 

- Letters to his wife, among the Williams papers. Of course, in these 
home letters one must always allow for the quiet humor and badinage, which 
is allowable when the mind is en deshabille, and which must not always be 
taken seriously, for often they would not be said either seriously or publicly. 
The historical temper and perspective should be preserved toward them. 



y2 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

have forced him to the purchase. We know not how else 
to account for the possession of a book which may serve 
the unlearned, but can be no auxiliary to the scholar. 
It is only a matter of surprise that he has not put it more 
frequently into requisition, when a dearth of argument 
might have rendered it convenient to shelter himself, as 
Aeneas of old, with the aid of his goddess mother, under 
the friendly mantle of a thick cloud. "^ These sparks 
were only occasionally struck, for the two papers were 
both of an excellent order of editorial ability and con- 
ducted on serious lines. The Gazette still preserved its 
high place as the great paper of Pittsburgh and western 
Pennsylvania, but it had now found a rival worthy of its 
steel and also of its respect. 

On September 6th (1834) the Gazette for the first time 
refers to "the present Whig leaders, such as Butler, 
Burke and Williams," thereby publicly recognizing Mr. 
Williams' position politically, and on that day, and also 
the 8th, charged W^illiams with causing the first breach 
between the anti-Masons and Whigs, which prevented 
union. On the latter day the Advocate replied : "On the 
second day of October last (day ever to be deplored)," 
it proceeds, "a certain gentleman of this city — whose 
name is not before the public, except so far as the Gazette 
has chosen to violate good breeding as well as editorial 
decorum, by taking unwarrantable liberties with it on 
divers occasions — offered a set of resolutions before the 
'Young Men's National Republican Association,' con- 
demning the conduct of the Anti-Masonic representatives 
from this county, whom they had been instrumental in 
electing, and declaring that they had forfeited all title to 
further support of that Association. On the ninth day of 
October, precisely one week after this unpardonable act, 
and one day after the election, the proceedings of the 
aforesaid meeting were published in the Statesman, 
accompanied by a commentary of the Editor, which is 
paraded at full length in the Gazette, * * * 



^ Quoted in the Gazette of September i, 1834. Knoxville Mercantile 
Library. The only file of the last half of this year known is this one. It is 
interesting to note that the Gazette was published at this time near the south- 
west corner of the "Diamond," which made its location almost directly back 
of Mr. Williams' Fourth street office. 




NEVILI-E B. CRAIG 

Halftone of a painting by Lambdin, about 1840, in possession of Mrs. Annie 

Neville Davidson, Pittsburgh 



LEADER OF THE WHIGS 73 

"Because the editor of the Statesman and one other 
individual have chosen to comment on the conduct of 
the Antimasonic members of the Legislature with free- 
dom, and mayhap severity — the breach is irreparable 
— the whole Whig party — the constitution and liberties 
of the country are to suffer for their sins — the cry of 
onset is proclaimed, and the sword is never to be 
sheathed as long as those offending and unfortunate 
individuals enjoy a place in the Whig ranks — among 
the humblest of the defenders of the Laws. Most 
adequate cause of this sublime effect!! How compli- 
mentary to the patriotism of the great Antimasonic 
party, the inexorable and undying hate which will ever 
forbid them from listening to the call of their suffering 
country." Undoubtedly the editor of the Gazette was 
making good use of some of the utterances of the young 
National Republicans of a year before, when there was 
no such desire for unity as at present, and when Mr. 
Craig wished to stem the anti-Masonic tide Whigward. 
The next day Mr. Williams publicly acknowledged his 
editorship of the Advocate, in response to the Gazette's 
aspersions. "We sought no concealment for purposes 
which we would be ashamed to avow ; we had no desire 
to deal our blows in the dark, that our hand might not 
be seen — we meditated no assassin like purposes — we 
sought no personal controversy ; — responsible names 
stood at the head of the Advocate, and we preferred the 
shade, because it was most congenial to our feelings. 
The editor of the Gazette has dragged our name before 
the public, for purposes which they may now well under- 
stand — we are forced into a position of exposure, and as 
we know no fear even of his redoubtable pen, we gratify 
him at last, by throwing up our visor, and uttering our 
defiance anew. He is now welcome to all the advantage 
which this auxiliary may bestow, and we bid him turn 
it to as good account as possible."^ 

It will be well to note at this point that there was 
no personal enmity between Mr. Craig and Mr. Williams. 
They were both highminded men, as any reader of the 
Gazette and Advocate of that period could readily see. 

' Quoted in the Gascttc of September gth. 



74 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

They were fighting a common enemy, one with the 
intense convictions of the anti-Mason, who hoped to see 
his party ultimately be the national party, and the other, 
not a professional editor, but a citizen, in time of crisis, 
taking up the pen to unify an opposition on great gen- 
eral principles in a manner such as, in his opinion, anti- 
Masonry was not fitted to do. Indeed, it is doubtful if 
the Advocate was continued for anything but political 
purposes. "The Advocate," writes Mr. Williams to his 
wife on September 6th, "is doing excellently under my 
auspices, & promises to be profitable. [The italics are not 
his.] The Whig party will not hear of my leaving home 
at this juncture. They tell me they would rather pay 
your expenses with a kind escort." On October 4th he 
writes: "Yesterday I was busy at the primary election 
wherein we succeeded in thoroughly beating the Jackson 
& Anti-Masonic Ticket in the city & Allegheny town. 
Today I have been engaged in exchanging congratula- 
tions & writing puffs for the election. On Tuesday sen' 
night the election will be over, & the flame of politics 
will sink again into its socket." "Glorious Triumph 
— Downfall of Jacksonism in Allegheny County!!" 
exclaimed the Gazette on October 4th. "We consider 
Friday, the 3rd day of October, A. D., 1834, an important 
epoch in the history of politics in this county. Every 
succeeding election has found a step in the decline of 
Jacksonism but this is the end of it." The rejoicing, 
therefore, of Whigs over their success in Pittsburgh, and 
the anti-Masons over their gains in the county, and both 
over the widespread anti-Jackson gains in the Legisla- 
ture and over the whole country, served to make the two 
leading Pittsburgh parties more conciliatory, but at the 
same time gave the Whigs new confi'dence in the solidity 
of their principles as a basis for a successful national 
party. 

They began at once in November to make a fight on 
the mayoralty, to take it out of the hands of the Jackson 
element, and Mr. Williams was one of a committee on 
resolutions that gave public notice to all the opposition 
that they were ready to unite for it, but must have equal 
consideration, and therefore proposed an anti-Jackson, 



LEADER OF THE WHIGS 75 

not an anti-Mason Convention. With mention of this, 
merely to indicate the future attitude of the Whigs, the 
poHtical movements may give place, as they did in Pitts- 
burgh itself for a time, to the widespread movement for 
completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, to have its 
western terminus at the head of that river. 

A great meeting was held at the court house in the 
"Diamond" on November 7th to appoint a delegation to 
a national canal convention at Baltimore in December 
and to select a committee of correspondence to agitate 
the matter. Mr. Williams was one of twenty-one for this 
latter purpose — and so was Mr. Craig, and Pittsburgh 
was at once a unit on this new question. It was notice- 
able that the next issue of the Ga::ette contained an inter- 
esting report from the Pennsylvania Canal agent, but 
the Gazette uses this very prosperity to show that before 
another year the Pennsylvania Canal would be unable to 
handle all the business eastward from Pittsburgh. 

"It is in this respect," says the Gazette of November 
loth, "that we consider the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal 
important and advantageous to the Pennsylvania im- 
provements. Because, if it is once known that there is 
more tonnage here destined eastward than our canal can 
transport, persons at a distance fearing that their prop- 
erty might be detained for an indefinite length of time, 
would seek some other rout which, though more expen- 
sive, might be more certain. If we are not mistaken 
cases of this kind occurred at Philadelphia, during the 
last summer, merchants having goods there, fearing that 
they might be detained by the Pennsylvania Canal, pre- 
ferred sending them by Baltimore to Wheeling, though 
the expense was greater. Before the Portage Rail Road 
was completed, many persons were unwilling to send 
their merchandise by the Pennsylvania Canal, because 
they know not how long it might be detained at Holi- 
daysburg. — But complete the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Canal, and all risk of detention will be obviated." It is 
unfortunate that no copies of the Advocate of this date 
exist, so that Mr. Williams' first expressions on a theme 
on which his convictions became so momentous can be 
seen, but it is evident from the pages of the Gazette 



76 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

itself that the Advocate and its young editor even then 
divided honors in supporting a means of communication 
between the headwaters of the Ohio and the metropoHs 
at the headwaters of the Chesapeake. 



CHAPTER VII 

The Whig Fight Against the Anti-Mason Candidate 
FOR State Senator 

Williams' Notable Oration of July 4, 1835 

Some principles, by their very nature, are capable of 
early realization in a given social order, and the wisdom 
which has an eye for this class of principles is not 
altogether uncommon. This is the class of principles 
and the kind of wisdom most commonly at the basis of 
what is ordinarily called successful character. This wis- 
dom is constructive in spirit and brings visible things 
to pass that can be seen of all men. This wisdom con- 
sciously keeps its hand on the safety-valve and the lever 
that guide social or political conditions. But is there 
not another wisdom which has in its purview principles 
which, also from their very nature, do not materialize so 
early in a given social or political condition — principles 
that are more vitally structural, more organic in their 
nature, more permanent in their relations and results? 
If so, then there might easily be minds to which the 
latter would appeal, and, indeed, often the latter chiefly. 
In this case, there might be frequent phenomena that to 
most observers would look much like failure, and, indeed, 
to those able to view only the principles capable of early 
realization, would be failure. But to him whose eye 
beholds the permanent this is but the waiting on natural 
growth. His duty is done when he has seen and planted 
his great principles, and he has the sight and confidence 
which the uninitiated may denominate faith. Such a 
mind was that of Thomas Williams. This it was which 
enabled a character, poetic in temperament, shy in 
manner, retiring and sensitive, with a gentleness that, 
it is said, made his eye, when in repose, have the clarity 
of a child's, — this it was which enabled it to be con- 
77 



78 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

sistent with itself in those periods when, at times of crises 
in the great principles he beheld, he was roused to a fear- 
lessness and steadfastness that faced the most strongly 
entrenched powers of industry and state and national 
government in high places. 

He was not a politician, it need hardly be said. So 
when, after the lull in politics during the early winter of 
1834-35, the Gazette of January 7th takes pleasure in 
quoting from the Times, that "Mr. Williams intimates 
that whatever the rest of the Whigs may do, for his part 
he will not support Mr. Lowrie," the anti-Mason candi- 
date for Mayor, the attitude of Mr. Williams was not 
based on any antipathy to Mr. Lowrie or any love for the 
Jackson candidate, but solely on his determination to help 
lay the foundations of a great permanent national party. 
The Whigs remained neutral in the contest for the most 
part, the vote being 400 less than in the October election, 
and the Jackson candidate won by a small majority.^ 
Replying to the Gazette, Mr. Williams said, in the Advocate 
of the 2ist: "If the Gazette had stated that the Whigs 
would not be coaxed or driven into the nothing but 
Antimasonry policy, to which it has always inflexibly 
adhered, it would have come nearer the truth. The 
insinuation of doubt or irresolution on the part of the 
Advocate is a gross libel, entirely unwarranted by the 
circumstances. When invoked, its opinions were declared 
promptly and openly, and the position which they indi- 
cated never departed from during the whole campaign. 
It was an armed neutrality, if you please, entirely inde- 
dependent of both combatants, alike careless of their 
favor and regardless of their frowns — distrustful of both, 
but fearing neither. Because, forsooth, it would not 
enter the lists either for the Antimasons or the Jackson- 
ites, it 'knew not what to do' — as though our position 
were like that of a mariner in a burning vessel, who 
must choose between the flames and the fishes, with the 
same merciful prospect from both ! Because we will 
not espouse the cause of Moloch and go to war against 

* They had even put him up for the Common Council, for which he 
received sixty-seven votes, presumably anti-Masonic, for he was not elected, 
and the Jackson men won. 



HIS FIRST NOTABLE ORATION 79 

Belial, or because we will not choose between two evils, 
when there is no necessity for a choice, but do most 
heartily eschew both, we are supposed to have no alterna- 
tive but to sit down and twirl our fingers, not 'knowing 
what to do' ! Now, we might be pardoned for husband- 
ing our strength, and maliciously enjoying a controversy 
between two common enemies — or perhaps even desiring 
an issue like that of the clapper-clawing between the two 
Kilkenny cats, who fought until there was nothing left 
but their tails. * * * We can assure the Gazette, once 
for all, that so long as it, and the party it represents, 
insists on occupying the exclusive ground of Anti- 
masonry, we are not likely to agree on any occasion. 
We would rather throw up our arms entirely than fight 
under its proscriptive banner, so long as it will accept 
no other terms than the entire annihilation of the Whig 
party. We will take neither the Koran nor the sword 
from their hands, while we have the power to decline 
the one or resist the other,"^ 

Meanwhile the canal movements were active, and 
another Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Convention was 
called to meet at Pittsburgh on February 3d, the com- 
mittee on arrangements for it being Davis, Bakewell, 
Williams, Shinn and Dallas, who were by special vote 
also made members of the convention. The Wheeling 
Times remarks on this convention as a wooer of Balti- 
more.^ The Gacette retorts that "We are now satisfied 
that the citizens of Baltimore are perfectly aware that 
their line of two wagons a day to Wheeling, is but a 
poor dependence for retaining the great western trade. 
They perceive, clearly, that some more energetic measures 
must be adopted, or the business of Baltimore will soon 
depart." The Philadelphia Board of Trade is also active 
in aiding all movements toward improving and enlarging 
the service between the Ohio and its own port, and 
deprecates the tolls that make the New York Canal route 
more profitable to shippers. "It is a fact," says the 

^ Quoted in the Gazette of January 25, 1835. Mercantile Library, Knoxville, 
Pittsburgh. The Gazette devotes a column and a half to notice of this, and 
explains, with great care and fullness, who Moloch and Belial were. 

2 Quoted in the Gazette of March 14th. 



8o THOMAS WILLIAMS 

Gazette, "and one calculated to show the importance of 
our local situation, that the legislatures of New York, 
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Ohio, and the 
Congress of the Union, have each before them one or 
more memorials, for improvements, — all designed to lead 
directly to our city. In New York, there are the great 
rail road, and the Rochester and Olean Canal ; in Penn- 
sylvania, the connection with Erie, and the Ohio 
Canal ; in Maryland, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal ; in 
Virginia, the same canal ; in Ohio, the two Cross-Cut 
Canals ; and in Congress, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 
the improvement of the Monongahela and also of the 
Ohio. So that the representatives of nearly six millions 
people, in five states, and the representatives of the whole 
union may be said to be deliberating upon our immediate 
interests."^ 

On the 4th of March the two gubernatorial conven- 
tions meeting at Harrisburg precipitated anew the 
political conflicts, and when the anti-Masons nominated 
Ritner, "A Whig," in the Advocate, advised all Whigs to 
vote for him, for the public good, against Wolf, the 
Democratic nominee. The reason being that Ritner 
more nearly represented Whig principles, and the Whigs 
probably had the balance of power now, but might not 
elect a man of their own. Mr. Williams, however, 
favored an independent candidate, and on March 28th, 
at the Whig meeting, offered resolutions looking toward 
a State convention in June in some central place, to be 
decided later.- Meanwhile the anti-Masons proposed to 
make a great demonstration at Pittsburgh on the coming 
July 4th, and on April 19th asked Thaddeus Stevens, of 
Gettysburgh, and H. M. Watts, Esq., to be their orators. 
On June 3d they held a convention and nominated candi- 
dates for the Senate and Assembly, Cornelius Darragh 



1 Febnaary 28, 1835. 

2 A suggestive notice of Chicago is reprinted from the New York Com- 
mercial Advertiser on May nth: "Chicago contains at present between three 
and four thousand inhabitants. Three years since it was only a military station. 
The State is rapidly settling with emigrants of industry and character as well 
as means, and will soon outrun Ohio. Chicago * * * will command the 
trade of the Illinois River and Mississippi by means of the canal; and the west 
and the east by the navigation of the Lakes. * * » " fhe Gasette com- 
ments on it, saying: "Persons well acquainted with its localities confidently 
predict that it is destined to be one of the greatest cities of the West." 



HIS FIRST NOTABLE ORATION 8l 



being their choice for the former. The Whigs called 
a meeting on June loth and arranged for a big celebration 
on the Fourth. Evidently the Whigs were greatly 
divided on the matter of a separate State convention 
and the support of Ritner. A meeting was held on the 
23d by a large following of Whigs, with Mr. Bake- 
well as chairman; it decided to vote for Ritner and 
announced Daniel Webster as a candidate for Presi- 
dent. Mr. Williams apparently took no part in this 
meeting, and the Gazette continued to betray great 
anxiety as to his course. It betrays some apprehension 
lest the Fourth of July Whig meeting launch a new 
Senatorial and Lower House ticket, and on the ist of 
July its apprehensions were shown to be well-founded, 
for the Whig committee announced that to be their 
purpose. The meeting was to be held on the banks of 
the Monongahela at Miltenberger's Orchard. 

As a rival orator to Thaddeus Stevens, the Whigs 
at Miltenberger's Orchard produced Hon. H. M. Brack- 
enridge and none other than the political editor of the 
Advocate, Thomas Williams.^ 

"If a stranger, my fellow citizens," Mr. Williams began, 
"should first set his foot on our shores on this auspicious mom, 
and ask as he naturally would, what meant this universal rejoic- 
ing which saluted him from every side, how would be your 
reply .^ You would tell him that no royal birth, no imperial 
nuptials, no kingly coronation had graced this day or claimed 
it for the homage of an annual festival. He would read in the 
glittering eye and swelling chest, that some great national 
achievement, some lofty enterprise done for the benefit of the 
people, had crowned it with immortal honor, and consecrated 
it in the public gratitude. He would be quick to perceive that 
the joy which was radiant in every countenance, and the fire 
which illumined every eye, were the spontaneous overflowings 
of a grateful heart, touched by recollections as potent as the 
rod which smote the rock in the wilderness and drew the living 
waters from its side. He would be only curious to know what 
those recollections were. You would answer his inquiry by say- 
ing, that on the day to which they referred, no warring nations 

> Nothing, except the fact that Judge Brackenridge did speak, is known of 
it. Even this fact is learned only by a reference to :t in a public letter in the 
Gazette of July 8th. This was the son of Judge H. H. Brackenridge, who, 
although not so talented as his father in some ways, was equally prominent as 



82 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

had been joined in battle, no bloody trophies had been gathered 
on the field of death. You would tell him that you were 
commemorating the birthday of the first empire which was ever 
founded on the imprescriptible rights of man, and as you 
unrolled the glorious charter which has just been read, you 
would point him to the recognition of a truth which was then 
first solemnly proclaimed. Yes ! my fellow citizens, we are 
assembled to commemorate the proudest day in the annals of 
all time — the most momentous epoch in the history of the world 
— the era of popular sovereignty — the nativity of American 
Independence — the ever memorable Fourth of July. Neither 
are we alone on this occasion. No petty or local interest has 
congregated us together. Thirteen millions of our fellow 
citizens are uniting this day in the same solemn thanksgiving — 
but one exulting pulse is throbbing over this whole land — and 
the echoes of the morning gun which ushered in this great 
anniversary on the hills of the Penobscot, have been prolonged 
and reverberated from valley to valley, until the whole land has 
become vocal with gratulation, and the swelling chorus has died 
on the Gulf of Mexico. Nor does it end here. The wanderer 
from our shores — no matter in what foreign realm he may be 
— whether he be climbing the rugged Alps or basking on the 
sunny plains of Italy — whether he be pursuing a gainful com- 
merce in the Indies, or harpooning the whale in the Pacific — 
however estranged he may be from the land of his nativity, will 
turn on this eventful day to the country of Washington and 
Franklin, and exclaim with exultation — T too am an American 
citizen.' The friends of liberty in every land will hail the 
recurrence of this day with equal satisfaction. It will be 
honored and observed wherever humanity has a champion or 
freedom a friend — for what land has not heard our report — 
what region of the earth is not full of our labor?* And how 
can it well be otherwise ? The act which has immortalized this 
day, is in moral grandeur almost without a parallel — it is only 
approached in the history of its glorious and triumphant con- 
summation. 

"It was a dark and gloomy hour when the representatives 
of thirteen diminutive colonies, with a joint population of scarce 
three millions of souls, first ventured to discuss the question of 
Independence. They had been oppressed, but they had meditated 
no separation ; they were in arms, but it was only in defence of 
their privileges as British subjects; blood had been shed, but 
blood was a cheap offering in defence of that which belonged 
to them by birth-right, and had been secured to them by charters. 

* "Quae regis in terris notari non plena laboris?" — Virg. 



HIS FIRST NOTABLE ORATION 83 

They sought only to be re-admitted into the embraces of their 
mother country on the footing of children and not of bondmen. 
They had petitioned — supplicated — remonstrated. Their entreat- 
ies had been disregarded— they bad been goaded into rebellion by 
repeated insults, and they were even yet willing to return to 
their allegiance the moment their grievances should be redressed. 
Strange indeed must have been the blindness which could even 
then have closed the eyes of the British Ministry, against the 
consequences of their folly— strange the infatuation which could 
have hardened the heart of the monarch against the cries of his 
suffering subjects, and sealed his ears against the eloquent and 
prophetic warnings of the great statesman whose name now 
graces the city of our residence ! '1 rejoice,' said Mr. Pitt, when 
the proposition to repeal the stamp act was under discussion in 
the British Parliament, T rejoice that America has resisted. 
Three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty 
as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instru- 
ments to make slaves of ourselves. America, if she fell, would 
fall like the strong man. She would embrace the pillars of the 
State, and pull down the Constitution along with her.' 

"l"he determined attitude of the colonies, seconded by the 
remonstrances of this truly great man, did indeed alarm the 
British Government into a repeal of the obnoxious law. But 
the evil genius of Great Britain again interfered. The pride of 
the nation must be saved by an unfortunate reservation in behalf 
of the article of tea. But the American character was mistaken. 
The colonists were not to be satisfied with anything short of a 
total abandonment of the principle which was thus attempted 
to be preserved. Like the immortal Hampden, they did not 
regard the paltry penny which was attempted to be imposed, 
but they felt that the payment even of a penny which was levied 
without their consent, would make them slaves. 'Taxation 
without representation' was not more palatable to the Whigs 
of that day, than 'nomination without representation' to the 
Whigs of this.' They resisted the law, and the military was 
called in to coerce them. Vain and impotent attempt! Did 
they not know that the subjugation of freemen was not to be 
effected by mercenary arms ? Fools ! Did they not know that a 
harvest of armed men would spring up from the first blood 
which was spilled on the soil of New England? If they did not, 
their eyes were soon opened. The blow which was struck at 
Lexington lost an empire to Britain. The report of the first 
hostile niusket started the chivalry of the country to their feet 



VVhi's^fi^'^^"'^^ ^° *^^ anti-Masonic method of doing the nominating for the 



84 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

— the first clang of the war trump broke the slumbers of the 
people. The beacon fires were lighted on the hills — the ox was 
left in the furrow, the sword girt on the thigh, and the rifle 
snatched from the wall. A hasty parting embrace of wife and 
children, and the yeomanry of New England, with the blessing 
of their grey-haired sires, went up in thousands to avenge the 
blood of their brethren. But the warning voice which spoke in 
thunders from Bunker's Hill, and drenched its sides with the 
blood of the oppressor, was not heard beyond the Atlantic. 
Even the Spartan valor which reckoned not the odds when there 
was a question of privilege, though it challenged admiration in 
every land, could secure no favor in the land of our progenitors. 
The efforts of those brave men were despised — their overtures 
rejected, and the determination boldly proclaimed to coerce them 
into unconditional submission. 

"It was under these circumstances that the second Con- 
tinental Congress assembled in Philadelphia, and it was in that 
Congress that Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, and John Adams 
of Massachusetts, first brought forward the proposition of 
Independence. The House was electrified at the boldness of the 
proposal, the subject was referred to a select committee, and the 
eloquent declaration which you have just heard, was unani- 
mously reported, and almost unanimously approved. That 
declaration, uttered at such a period, was an effort of moral 
heroism which can scarcely be appreciated at the present day. 
The cause was just, the contest was unequal. On its issue 
depended the personal fates of those who gave it their sanction. 
Lawful resistance, if unsuccessful, would be construed into 
rebellion against rightful authority. Confiscation of property, 
and forfeiture of life would be the penalties of failure. The 
declaration pledged their 'sacred honor.' All else was surplus- 
age. Their lives and fortunes were already embarked in that 
pledge. They knew the terms, but they chose the hazard, and 
appealing to the God of battles, threw themselves upon the 
people for support. And nobly they were sustained. No thought 
of submission flashed across their minds even in the darkest 
hour. The sword once drawn was never to be sheathed until 
it had hewn its way to Independence. Providence had provided 
for them a leader who conquered by reverses, and drew resource 
from adversity. Need I point him out on an occasion like this ? 
The name of the sainted and immortal Washington is already 
on your lips, as his image is enshrined in the heart of every 
true American. With such a man at the head of their armies, 
no disaster could daunt — no reverses could overthrow — weak- 
ness was turned into strength and victory won by delay. The 



HIS FIRST NOTABLE ORATION 85 

prostrate spirit, and the dying hope were lifted up, and revivified 
by some brilliant effort, whenever the cause of the country 
languished — the startling surprise succeeded to the general de- 
spair, and the skirmishes of Trenton and Princeton achieved 
more important results than the field of Waterloo. High in 
public confidence — bearing on his shoulders the v^hole respon- 
sibility of the struggle, and more than once invested with the 
power of a dictator, this God-like man was ever true to his 
exalted station, and ever trusted by those whom it was his 
happiness to represent. Under his glorious auspices, the flag 
which had been unfurled at Lexington and Concord, and had 
flamed through the smoke and carnage of Bunker's Hill, was 
carried aloft through the storm of Revolution until it floated 
triumphantly over the battlements of Yorktown. The glorious 
strife was consummated there, and the act of the Fourth of 
July, which had been sealed by the blood of martyrs on many a 
hard fought field, was recognized by the power which had vainly 
attempted to enslave. The lesson was again rehearsed which 
had been taught of old time at Marathon and Thermopylae, that 
the arm of the freeman is strong against the oppressor, though 
his fleets cover the sea, and his armed hosts are countless as the 
sands along its shores. The people of this land were free, and 
we are assembled this day to thank our forefathers for the proud 
inheritance which they have left us, and to verify the prophetic 
and soul-stirring prediction of him who was said by Jefferson, 
the author, to have been the pillar of the declaration. 'We shall 
make this a glorious, an immortal day. When we are in our 
graves our children will honor it. They will celebrate it with 
Thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires and illuminations. 
On its annual return they will shed tears, copious, gushing 
tears, not of subjugation and slavery, not of agony and distress, 
but of gratitude, exultation and joy.' Thus spoke the Prophet 
and the Patriot on the day of our independence, and we stand 
here this day to fulfil the prediction. 

"Honor then to the sages who planned, and the heroes who 
executed this great work ! Immortal honor to the shades of 
those who fell like Warren and Montgomery on the blood- 
stained field ! Honor alike to the war worn veteran who 
followed the standard of his country, through summer's heat 
and winter's cold, and perhaps sunk on the toilsome march or 
perished in the mortal fray ! He may have been buried in the 
trench where he fell without a minute gun or mufiled drum to 
celebrate his obsequies. The tears of a grateful people will 
now fall like the refreshing rain drop on his lowly bed. His was 
the labor — ours the recompense. He but fulfilled a portion of 



86 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

the destiny of this country; it belongs to us to insure its con- 
summation. His then be the honor; ours the endeavor to per- 
petuate the blessings which were so dearly purchased. The same 
Providence which created this continent designed it to be the 
theatre of great events. In the original allotment of the earth, 
it had been evidently reserved as the patrimony of the free. 
The red man had been its occupant until the appointed time, 
but he too was free as the air of his mountains and possessed 
a charter as large as the forests over which he roamed. The 
white man came. Freedom of conscience was his errand. He 
sought an asylum from persecution and he found it here. Under 
the shadow of the tree which his own hand had planted, he grew 
& waxed strong and prosperous. The spoiler came, but he was 
met on the threshold, and indignantly repelled — and he was 
met too near the rock of Plymouth by the descendant of the 
pilgrims. The oppressor found a grave where he meditated an 
empire, and the title to the soil once won from the rude hand 
of nature, was again repurchased by the good swords of our 
fathers, and dedicated anew to the sublime purposes for which 
it had been originally designed. 

"No sooner, my fellow citizens, had our fathers struck off 
the fetters of colonial bondage, than this union, like the young 
eagle, plumed its wings, and soared away into the mid heaven 
a spectacle and a wonder to the nations of the earth. No drag 
chain ot dependence now retarded its movements — no chill sat 
upon its energies. It felt the glow of its new born freedom 
and bounded forward in the race with a vigor which paused at 
no obstacle and a fleetness which outstripped all competition. 
And what was it my fellow citizens that effected this change? 
What is it that has wrought all these surpassing wonders which 
we see around us, and unlocked all those amazing energies 
which our country has exhibited within the last fifty years? 
What potent charm, what talisman of mighty power has urged 
this country so rapidly onward towards the consummation of its 
high destiny? The secret is familiar to you all, and you have 
taught it to the world. It is no other than the application of the 
simple truth which the world has been so long learning, that all 
pozver emanates from the people, and can only be legitimately 
exercised for their benefit. You have taken the government into 
your own hands instead of delegating it to a king, who might 
chance to forget that he was your servant, and take a little too 
much of the responsibility.^ You have made sure that the 
Government will be administered for the benefit of the people, 

' No one in that assemblage needed to be reminded of Jackson in this 
connection. 



HIS FIRST NOTABLE ORATION 87 

by making the people themselves the governors. This is all 
the magic that you have employed. The question of self- 
government is now triumphantly solved, both as to its practica- 
bility and usefulness in the history of our separate existence as 
a nation. We have proved to the world that a republic is no 
chimera, and that man can only attain his true moral and intel- 
lectual stature as well as his true happiness in a state of freedom. 
"And yet it is equally true that a high degree of moral and 
intellectual culture is necessary to qualify us for citizenship in 
a country where every man is a sovereign. The quality of a 
government is generally regulated by the character of the people. 
An absolute or limited monarchy, according to the ratio of the 
public understanding, is the proper government for those who 
are unfit to govern themselves. When they improve they will 
rectify it of their own accord. A republic on the other hand 
presupposes a high degree of human perfectibility; and as we 
approach that line we may successively and safely discard 
all those features which distinguish it from a mere democracy. 
Our government is emphatically a government of the people. 
The virtue and intelligence of the people then are the two main 
pillars upon which it rests. It has cost blood and treasure to 
establish it. If it is worthy of preservation, the people must be 
qualified for the high function of government, by inspiring them 
with a wholesome love of country and imbuing them with a 
thorough knowledge of its true interests. Of their patriotism I 
have never entertained a doubt. Assail them from without — a 
million of swords will flame from their scabbards, and the roll 
of the war drum will marshall them along our coasts. But the 
danger lies not here. We may be cheated of our liberties ; they 
never can be cloven down in the battle field. As it is the 
tendency of all things human to decay, so a great body like this 
will surely engender corruption, imless it is guarded with the 
strictest jealousy. 'Power will be always stealing from the 
many to the few,' and it will always find allies and advocates in 
those miserable sycophants who are ever crawling around its 
footstool, and battening on its prodigality. They too are pre- 
eminently the friends of the people ! 'The dear people' is ever 
on their lips. Beware of their approaches— trust not their hypo- 
critical pretences; they flatter only to destroy. They are the 
serpents who would beguile you, and turn this Paradise into a 
Hell. They are even now at work amongst us — the eternal 
warfare between pozver and privilege has again commenced in 
this land. An overflowing treasury has nourished corruption 
amongst us, and ovit of that corruption has levied an army of 
mercenaries, a praetorian band, who are at this moment seeking 



88 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

to give away the empire. But thank God ! the people have taken 
the alarm, and the republic is safe. The Whigs of America have 
shouted 'to the rescue/ and their rallying cry has thrilled the 
land. Time-honored, and chivalrous title ! Another crisis has 
waked thee from the dust ! It is a glorious omen, my fellow 
citizens, the resurrection of this hallowed name. Cherish it — 
preserve it. It has never been dishonored — it belongs only to the 
free. That name so fraught with historic recollections will be 
itself a pillar of fire in your path — it will never suffer you to be 
false to the principles to which it has been consecrated. Those 
recollections will inspire you with confidence, and lead you to 
victory. What though you be outnumbered? So were the 
Whigs of the Revolution, but they never waited to calculate the 
odds. What though a portion of your brethren here may have 
shrunk from the contest, from an apprehension of weakness, or 
embarked their fortunes on another bottom? So did the timid 
and time serving patriots who deserted the American arms after 
the disasters of a single campaign. The Whigs of that day 
were not daunted by the defection. Though reduced to a hand- 
ful, they neither disbanded nor despaired. Like the three 
hundred at Thermopylae, they went up to battle against the 
thousands of the invader. The blessing of God was upon them, 
and the same hand led them through the perils of the revolution 
to the Independence at which they aimed. What then have you 
to fear ? Your cause is the same. You have girt on their armor 
— you have flung abroad their refulgent banner, and if there is 
truth in history, or virtue in man, 'by that sign you shall con- 
quer.' But if the past will not encourage you, see what there is 
in the future, and draw from it a new motive for exertion. 

"Three score years have not yet elapsed since that great 
event which we are now commemorating. Three millions of 
people only were then the proprietors of this fair domain. Some 
venerable relics of those days are still among us, though a new 
generation has taken their seats at the council board, and 
usurped their places in the halls of legislation. The ground 
whereon we stand was then a wilderness, tenanted only by wild 
beasts, or still wilder men, and sleeping in the universal silence 
which had brooded over it since the creation. What is it now? 
Is the past a fable, or is the present a dream? The great 
features of nature, it is true, still remain unchanged. These 
towering hills still frown above us and around us — these mag- 
nificent rivers which environ us, still flow on as they have flowed 
since their fountains were first unsealed — ever changing but 
still unchanged. But all else is new. The smoke of a thousand 
chimneys now tinge the blue ether above our heads. Below a 



HIS FIRST NOTABLE ORATION 89 

new and mighty agent unknown to our fathers, whose very- 
breath darkens our atmosphere, is doing the work of man, for- 
ging the stubborn bar, and driving the busy wheel. Rehgion has 
built her temples on the hills, and commerce has launched her 
barges on the waters. But the wonder has not stopped here. 
Civilization has leaped the Ohio, and bounded over the valley 
of the Mississippi with the speed of the race horse, turning the 
wilderness into a garden, and building her cities and palaces in 
the desert. The exhaustless flood of emigration is still sweeping 
onward — onward in the track of the pioneer, swelling and 
strengthening and deepening, like some mighty river as it 
advances, until it has rolled its tides even to the foot of the 
Rocky Mountains. By and by, it will overleap that barrier and 
the Eagle of America, taking a higher and a bolder flight than 
the Eagles of Rome, or of Napoleon, will bathe his broad wing 
in the waters of the Pacific. 

"Is there anything extravagant in these sublime anticipa- 
tions? The question is answered in the history of the past. 
We are called by foreigners an egotistical people. Egotis- 
tical! Be it so. — With such a country as ours, and all its high 
hopes for an inheritance, how can it be otherwise? Why, the 
sun never shone on such a land as this which we inhabit. Every- 
thing about it is grand. Its broad belts of forest and prairie — its 
cloud capped mountains — its great inland seas — its mighty floods 
— all are on a scale of magnificence which has no parallel, all 
point unerringly to its future destiny. That destiny is written 
in all its features. It is engraved on its everlasting hills — it 
is felt in the immensity of its forests — it is proclaimed in the 
thunders of its cataracts. Tongue cannot tell — imagination can- 
not conceive the whole future. It outruns conception and strikes 
admiration dumb. The mind grows dizzy and is bewildered and 
lost in the sublime contemplation. What may it not be a century 
or two hence? Already twenty-four independent nations, with 
thirteen millions of inhabitants are scattered over its broad 
surface, and all, too, members of our great family of freemen. 
Who shall say that a century hence an hundred millions of free- 
men shall not sit down under the shadow of that immortal banner, 
and shout hosannahs to the name of Washington? Who shall 
say that all this vast continent shall not one day become one 
great republic — that the Andes shall not give back, on this 
day, the shout of the Alleghenies, nor the voice of thanksgiving 
which rises from the valley of the Mississippi, be reverberated 
in thunders along the banks of the Amazon ? It may be a wild 
speculation indeed, to suppose such a contingency as the union 
of all these people, but to suppose their universal freedom is 



90 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

clearly within the range of probability. The great events which 
have taken place all over the continent, furnish high assurance 
that its destiny will soon be fulfilled, and that destiny will be 
only complete, when it shall be covered with people, and know 
within its broad circumference no slave. 

"But there is more in the future than we have yet ventured 
to anticipate. We seek no foreign conquest — our territory is 
large enough even for ambition. But it is not wide enough for 
philanthropy — it is not vast enough for the empire of freedom. 
I do believe in God, that this empire will be one day coextensive 
with the habitable globe. The Millennium of the Christian must 
be heralded or followed by an era of political regeneration, when 
the rein will be slackened on the neck, and the empire of force 
superseded by the government of reason. The free and fearless 
and inquiring spirit of the age, bespeaks the rapid approach of 
that era, and there is every reason to believe that ere long, the 
people of the old world will assert their rights, and march over 
the 'ruins of thrones and principalities,' to light their fires at the 
altar which was kindled in '76. 

"It is for you then, my fellow citizens, to keep that flame 
alive. It may languish, but it must never die. The world has 
an interest in its preservation. If you suffer it to expire, you 
will be held accountable for j-our negligence, to posterity and to 
mankind. If you are vigilant and fearless, it will flame broader 
and higher under every blast that assails it, but that vigilance 
must be directed by a sound conscience and an enlightened 
understanding. These are the conditions of your liberty. — You 
must be virtuous and intelligent, if you would be free."^ 

The Gazette ignored this event entirely, but the noble 
discourse was destined to be not only the awakener of 
the local audience who heard it with such profound im- 
pression, but the inspirer of embryo statesmen and edu- 
cated leaders in college halls all over the West for over 
a score of years thereafter, and men in the halls of Con- 
gress in years to come were to confess to its influence at 

1 From a copy of the original published pamphlet of July 8, 1835, among 
the papers of his wife, the only copy now known. It is four by six inches, 
small type, and fifteen pages. The committee of publication was M. B. 
Miltenberger, Lewis Peterson, D. M. Hogan, Wm. Graham, Jr., G. W. Jack- 
son, George R. White and Wm. D Wilson. "In the discharge of this duty, 
they said, in asking for his manuscript, "we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure 
of assuring you, that the sentiments contained in your address, are calculated 
to draw together in closer bonds of union, the opponents to the prevailing 
profligacy of the times. We therefore feel anxious, that every document, 
calculated to enlighten the honest and well disposed of all parties, should be 
made to reach the community, more especially when the principles of American 
policy are expressed in language as pure, as the argument is conclusive." 
It was printed by Wilson. The second edition was printed in octavo form by 
W. S. Haven. 



HIS FIRST NOTABLE ORATION 9I 

the opening of their careers. Over thirty years afterwards 
a Baltimore paper said it "was immediately seized upon 
and appropriated in the leading colleges of the West, and 
has enjoyed the singular distinction of having entered 
into every literary contest of the most important of them, 
for so many years, as to be still remembered, in many 
of its passages, even by members of Congress, who have 
been educated from time to time, at those institutions."^ 
One of the immediate results of the oration in Pitts- 
burgh, however, was the enthusiastic launching of a legis- 
lative Whig ticket — Robinson for the Senate and Judge 
Brackenridge heading the list for the Lower House. It 
was evident that the public looked upon Mr. Williams as 
the backbone of this independent Whig movement and 
although it was also evident that notwithstanding the 
large defection of Whigs to the anti-Masonic ranks, all 
papers betrayed much concern as to what program the 
political editor of the Advocate proposed. It is notable, 
too, that during August conventions were announced on 
the revision of the old Constitution of 1791 — which tended 
to involve the political situation over the State still more. 
The Democrats of the State were badly divided over 
Wolf and Muhlenberg, so that with the anti-Masons and 
Whigs for Ritner, the latter's prospects were hopeful 
indeed. By September the opposition to Van Buren as a 
Presidential possibility began to develop General Wil- 
liam Henry Harrison and Daniel Webster as Whig pos- 
sibilities. In October "the Spurious Whigs," as the 
Gazette delighted to dub them, organized a committee of 
correspondence with Mr. Williams as chairman. It may 
be noted at this point that the Advocate's course was 
watched with interest all over the State. The United States 
Gazette, of October loth, spoke of "The Pittsburgh Advo- 
cate, a sound, wholesome Whig paper." It made a brave 
stand for its legislative ticket, and for its senatorial can- 
didate mustered 1,206 votes in the county. This was, 
however, only about half of the Democratic vote and 
about one-third of that of the anti-Masonic candidate. 
The struggle, however, had preserved the Whig party of 

' The Baltimore Chronotype of June 27, 1868, in its series of sketches of 
public men. 



92 



THOMAS WILLIAMS 



Pittsburgh and given it a nucleus for co-operation with 
the growing Whig sentiment over the country in the still 
greater struggle now approaching, for the Presidency of 
the United States. 



CHAPTER VIII 

The Great Anti-Jackson and Whig Movements in 
Pennsylvania 

Change in State Constitution and Election of 
Williams to the State Senate 

1836 

In the six long years of fight against Masonry in the 
effort to make a national political contest, the anti-Ma- 
sons were never more encouraged than at this time, at 
least in Pennsylvania. On the other hand, the Whig gains 
all over the land and their renewed sense of balance of 
power between the anti-Masons and Democrats gave 
them encouragement for national success to a degree 
never before realized. The result was a fierce energy in 
efforts to unite or absorb one another in the State of 
Pennsylvania. 

Forthwith the Whigs united for the Presidential 
campaign, and anticipated anti-Masonic official action 
(although the Gazette had announced itself for Webster) 
in a convention on November 7th at the court house in 
the "Diamond" to nominate Daniel Webster. Messrs. 
Bakewell, Foster, Williams and Fairman made the 
speeches,'and Mr. Williams was made one of a large com- 
mittee to communicate with Mr. Webster, and was 
chosen one of five delegates to a convention at Harris- 
burg on January 4th next, Darsie, Caldwell, Foster and 
Bakewell being the others named. It is well to note at 
this point than only four days before, at Brownsville, a 
railroad meeting was held to urge the extension of the 
Baltimore and Ohio road from Cumberland to Browns- 
ville and thence to both Pittsburgh and Wheeling, and to 
call a general meeting of the sections interested. On the 
nth the anti-Masons held their Webster meeting and 
93 



94 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

appointed delegates to the "Democratic Anti-Masonic" 
Convention in Harrisburg on December 14th, thus antici- 
pating the Whig State Convention. On November 24th 
followed a Pittsburgh meeting to appoint delegates to the 
Brownsville convention, and Mr. Williams was one of 
eleven delegates chosen. At about this time, too, some 
alarm was expressed over the fact that, notwithstanding 
Ritner's election and eleven thousand or so majority for a 
constitutional revision convention in the State, the Legis- 
lature seemed to be about 66 to 34 against the convention. 
On the 25th the Brownsville meeting was held with great 
success, and Mr. Williams was chairman of the Pitts- 
burgh membership of the resolutions committee. In order 
to appreciate the impulse in Pennsylvania toward inter- 
nal improvements one needs but to know that since the 
policy was definitely adopted in 1826 the State had spent 
nearly twenty-two and a half millions of dollars for that 
purpose. The public school system, whose creating act 
had been passed on April i, 1834, was now in course of 
organization over the State ; by this time, leaving out the 
counties of Philadelphia, Montgomery, Clearfield and 
Greene, 536 of the districts had accepted and 371 had re- 
jected the provisions of the law, so that it was another 
source of political agitation. So also was the Abolition 
movement. 

It was also about this time that the Whig committee 
heard from Mr. Webster, and, while he was free in ex- 
pressing his belief against secret societies in his letter to 
the anti-Masonic committee, he thought the time had not 
yet arrived to announce his sentiments in regard to the 
Presidential nomination. 

"Boston Nov. 20, 1835 

"Gentlemen, 

It appears to me, on reflection, that it is most prudent 
for me not to take advantage of your letter of the loth 
instant, to express my sentiments on the great questions, 
in which Pa. has ever felt an interest. I cannot well 
answer that part of your letter, without alluding to 
the proceedings of the meeting, & taking notice of the 
nomination ; which, as it strikes me, it will be wiser to omit, 
for the present. Should events favor my intention, I 



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HE BECOMES STATE SENATOR 95 

shall be able to reply to your letter, sometime hence, with- 
out inconvenience or danger. 

"It will give me pleasure, in that case, to avow my at- 
tachment to those principles, & that policy, which, as 
I think, have become incorporated with the vital interests 
of Pa. as well as with those of other States. — During my 
very agreeable visit at Pittsburg, I had not only the pleas- 
ure of making many acquaintances & enjoying much 
intercourse with its inhabitants, but an opportunity also 
of addressing them publicly on political subjects. — From 
the principles & opinions then avowed,^ it is impossible 
that I should ever depart. 

"You may expect to hear from me again, not long 
after my arrival at Washington. 

"I must pray you to offer to the Gentlemen of the 
Committee my grateful thanks for their kindness & 
regard ; & to believe me Gentlemen, with true esteem 

"Your friend & ob. servant 

"DANL WEBSTER" 
"To Messrs Henry D. Sellers & Thos. Williams" 

Mr. Webster, however, was not from the great West, 
and, judging from the fact that it was this vigorous sec- 
tion which had demanded and twice secured one of its 
own military heroes for the Presidency of the United 
States, and the fact that numerous meetings over the 
country were engaged in nominating another, although 
this time a W^hig, military hero from the northern section 
of the great West, there was a possibility that the Sena- 
tor from Massachusetts might not have occasion to ad- 
dress a second letter to Messrs. Williams and Sellers. 
Indeed, by December it became evident that Harrison 
men dominated even the anti-Masonic State Convention 
at Harrisburg, so much that Stevens, Denny, Craig and 
six other gave notice of withdrawal, and the convention 
proceeded to nominate Harrison and Granger. At this 
the Harrisburg Telegraph came out with : " Antimasonry 
is extinct in Pennsylvania. — It has received its death blow 
from the hands of its pretended friends. Governor Rit- 
ner, James Todd, and other leading supporters of his ad- 

' It is a small, but interesting matter, that he first wrote "voiced" and, 
partially scratching it out, replaced it with "avowed." 



90 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

ministration, offered up Antimasonry as a peace offer- 
ing, to propitiate the Harrison Whigs." Stevens and 
others explained how it was; that the Masonic Whigs 
had held their convention at the same time and made a 
deal with the anti-Masonic Convention "usurpers" and 
both launched the Harrison "boom," as it would now be 
styled.^ Stevens said they had stood together for 
national political anti-Masonry for "six toilsome years," 
and that they should, although in defeat, buckle on their 
armor anew. The Pittsburgh leaders at once took meas- 
ures to secure another State anti-Mason Convention. As 
a preliminary, Mr. Stevens addressed a letter to Gen- 
eral Harrison, attempting to commit the latter to a course 
such as the anti-Masons pursued against secret societies. 
The General, while avowing his personal disbelief in 
such organizations and his personal efforts to prevent the 
spread of secrecy principles, could not consent to make it 
a basis of a national party, just as many refuse to make 
the principle of Prohibition a dominant national party 
principle to-day. This was enough for Mr. Stevens, and 
also for Mr. Craig of Pittsburgh.^ 

Mr. Williams was evidently saving himself for the real 
fight, after the Harrisburg convention, for the Gacette 
of February 9th says : "We had supposed that the 
original zvriting editor of the Advocate had abandoned the 
editorial chair, and taken to the more toilsome labors of 
the legal profession," but one of Mr. Craig's doughtiest 
columns, following, showed that Mr. Williams had again 
pierced his armor. Details, however, have been given 
sufficiently to indicate Mr. Williams' power in the edito- 
rial and political field — the only purpose they are intended 
to serve. ^ On February 25th the Advocate came out for 
General Harrison for President. Meanwhile the matter 
of the extension of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (at 
this date "Rail" was generally emphasized and separated 
from road") to Pittsburgh was receiving agitation from 
the annual annoying experience with the freezing of the 
canals, and late in April the Board of Trade appointed 

^ Evidently the Whigs moved their convention date back from January 
for this purpose. 

2 The Pittsburgh Gazette of December 29, 1835. 

* On February 24, 1836, it was announced by the Advocate that it had 
purchased the Statesman. Gazette of same date. 



HE BECOMES STATE SENATOR 97 

Mr. Williams one of five delegates to the Baltimore con- 
vention of May 2d, and the following day he was ap- 
pointed by a big railroad meeting one of a committee to 
see what private subscription would be made by individ- 
uals in Pittsburgh toward this construction. It should 
be noted also that this meeting requested the City Coun- 
cils to consider the expediency of either subscribing to 
stock in the railroad or guaranteeing interest on it — a 
movement fraught with tremendous consequences both 
to Mr. Williams and to Pittsburgh herself. It is to be 
remarked that the Councils were only asked to con- 
sider the "expediency" of it — a matter which indicated, 
possibly, difiference of opinion as to the said "expedi- 
ency." Mr. Williams opposed and defeated it.^ 

On May ist he arrived in Baltimore, and on the next 
day he writes his wife: "I had the pleasure of a long 
interview * * * with Mr. Webster * * *. The 
Convention assembled this morning. It is very large & 
very respectable. I have been appointed on a Committee 
on which a large portion of the labor has been devolved 
& consequently have little time to appropriate to my 
letter." On the 8th he again writes : "The Convention 
having adjourned on Tuesday evening at a late hour, I 
started on the following morning by the rail-road for 
Washington. Arrived there in the space of two and a 
half hours. I repaired forthwith to the Capitol heard an 
interesting debate in the Senate, looked into the House 
of Reps, paid a visit to the Vice President where I met 
the Secretary of State, both remarkably polite — called 
on one of our Senators, Mr. Buchanan, & made my way 
on the following Thursday evening back to Baltimore." 
This convention was purely a Maryland aflfair, intended 
to formulate a request to the Maryland Legislature, but 
also to allow the Wheeling and Pittsburgh interests to 
present their claims.^ 

1 In a public letter in the Pittsburgh Commercial of September 7, 1871, Mr. 
Williams said: "The idea of building rail-roads with municipal bonds, once 
before defeated through my agency as far back as 1836, found, I think, its 
earliest and fullest development here." 

' The advertisements of the "Pioneer Fast Line" over the Pennsylvania 
Canal Portage and Columbia Railroads appearing at this time are headed by a 
cut showing an engine on four wheels, two baggage and express cars, with four 
wheels each, and two coach-fashioned cars, also with four wheels each, but 
stating below that the present cars "are of a new and elegant construction, 



98 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

Meanwhile the nomination of delegates to the con- 
stitutional convention was attracting attention and 
awakening not a little feeling. There was a desire in 
many quarters to keep it out of politics and among those 
who voiced this sentiment was Simon Snyder — not the 
ex-Governor — who wrote a letter to the Gazette on June 
15th saying, inter alia: "There are respectable men in my 
party, who, throwing politics aside, possess the confi- 
dence of their fellow citizens," and he suggests a large 
number: William Wilkins, Harmar Denny, A. W. Fos- 
ter, Wm. Hays, David Shields, Wm. W. Irwin, C. Avery, 
Thomas Williams and twenty-six others — all among the 
very first citizens of the city and county of that day. 
This was prompted by the action of a combination con- 
vention of the 8th, which nominated what the Gazette de- 
lighted to call the "Tadpole Ticket," because it was all 
head and tail and Walter Forward was the head. In 
commenting on this convention, a writer, signing himself 
"S," in the Gazette of June 17th attacks its course, calling 
the Whigs who joined it the "cow-boys of the Whig 
party." "The genuine and honorable Whigs were mainly 
solicitous about Thomas Williams and Alexander 
Brackenridge, yet these men were dropped and derided. 
* * * Who, then [after Darsie's nomination] cared 
about the nomination of Williams for the Con- 
vention? The object, after that, was to give this bastard 
ticket — the offspring of illicit passions — as much of a 
Jackson look and dress as possible, to disguise its real 
paternity. Of what rise would Thomas Williams be — a 
reserved man of books, nourishing in his seclusion high 
thoughts of political honor and consistency? He would 
be a dead weight upon their hands, and perhaps his con- 
science would force out from him some indiscreet public 
disclaimer of the sentiments contained in the 'resolu- 
tions' accompanying his nomination. What honest 
man, indeed, could forbear to make such a disclaimer?" 
There are indications that Mr. Williams was out of the 
city both at the time of the convention and at this date 

running on 8 v/heels and carrying 40 passengers— being the number limited to 
the boats." The boats were not equalled by any other on the rout." 

News of the successes of the new Texan republic against Mexico is attract- 
ing attention along about this time — May and June. 



HE BECOMES STATE SENATOR 99 

also, even if not all summer; a letter of August 2d from 
him indicates his arrival in Pittsburgh in phrases that 
suggest not only long absence, but a purpose to leave 
again soon. Evidently Mr. Williams did not intend to 
coalesce with the Van Burenites any more than he had 
with the anti-Masons the year before, and the result was 
that when October came the anti-Masons were success- 
ful and Mr. Williams saved his strength for the Novem- 
ber Presidential contest. 

On October 25th a great Harrison meeting was held 
and A. W. Marks, T. M. Howe and Thomas Williams 
were the committee on resolutions. He was also made 
one of the election committee and the fight was made so 
vigorously that Allegheny County went 548 for Harrison, 
— and Denny was sent as senatorial delegate to the consti- 
tutional convention instead of Judge Wilkins. Of course 
Pennsylvania went for Van Buren, but at such a marvel- 
ously reduced majority, namely, from over 50,000 in 
1828, and even above 25,000 in 1832, to only 4,376 at this 
election, that the Whigs and anti-Masons were nearly 
as joyous as if they had themselves been the victors. 
This result was due, so far as Allegheny County was con- 
cerned, to the Whigs, like Thomas Williams, who refused 
the Van Buren coalition overtures, and stood solidly for 
the Whig national candidate.^ 

During the month of December, 1836, the city election 
exhibited signs of reconciliation between the Whigs and 
anti-Masons, so much so that at a North Ward Whig 
meeting a ticket for Select and Common Councils was 
chosen, and on the following day an anti-Mason meeting 
adopted it, even though it included Mr. Williams' name 
for the Common Council — and in spite of the fact that Mr. 
Craig made strenuous efforts to remove Mr. Williams' 
name alone from the ticket, solely on the ground of his 
antagonism to anti-Masonic exclusiveness in the past.^ 
This, however, was of little concern to Mr. Williams, who 
refused to make any expression to anti-Masons, who 



1 It is well to note a convention at Williamsport to secure a railroad from 
Philadelphia by way of Sunbury and that city to Erie in the winter of 1836-37. 

^ The Gazette of January 9, 1837, has a full column account of the details, 
and shows that Mr. Craig did get a section of the convention to recommend 
another name as a choice. 



lOO THOMAS WILLIAMS 

wished some, that w^ould show a change of heart toward 
their poHcy. 

Far more important events were coming. The 
stringency in the money market was alarming, and an 
effort was made to distribute the State's surplus revenue 
deposits more widely, and especially to place some in 
Pittsburgh banks. Efforts were made also to incorporate 
the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad and another 
Pittsburgh road ; also to seek the State's aid in survey- 
ing with a view to a rail line complementary to the canal. 
The Philadelphia people wanted the Sunbury and Erie 
road, too, and the Legislature had numerous appeals to it 
in January and February. Pittsburgh sent a delegation 
in behalf of its interests and Mr. Williams was among the 
number. He arrived in Harrisburg on January 28th 
(1837) and on February 2d he writes his wife: "I have 
been * * * so much employed in making acquaint- 
ances, as well as entertaining them when made, & in addi- 
tion thereto in writing letters to my constituents, that I 
have scarcely enjoyed a leisure moment since my arrival. 

* * * We of the Pittsburgh delegation are very com- 
fortably situated, in a large parlor of our own & gener- 
ally surrounded by gentlemen from all quarters of the 
State & some of them, too, highly distinguished in former 
times. We are, I think, decidedly popular & very likely 
to achieve the object for which we were sent here, by 
obtaining liberal aid from the Commonwealth. Pitts- 
burgh is very justly regarded here as not second in im- 
portance to Philadelphia herself & its representatives are 
therefore treated with correspondent consideration. 

* * * During the session I generally while my 
time away in the House very much to my amusement, 
but not much to my edification." "I have often felt," he 
continues in a confidential vein, such as would be used 
only to a wife and which should be so considered, "how 
easy a matter it would be to obtain distinction in such a 
body. I have as often felt how much I would have been 
gratified to reply to arguments, which seemed to me 
unanswered. I have paid a visit to the Governor and 
had some conversation with him. He is very sociable 
but speaks very broken English. * ■■' * There is 



HE BECOMES STATE SENATOR lOI 

an Anti-Slavery convention sitting here at present & 
in consequence thereof the town is full of Quakers." On 
the 5th he again writes: "I have now very strong reasons 
to believe that the object of our mission is pretty success- 
fully accomplished & that a liberal appropriation will be 
made for it before the end of the session. We have spent 
our time agreeably upon the whole & been eminently suc- 
cessful in conciliating the good opinion of those by 
whom we are surrounded. It is true this has been 
effected at the expense of a little dissipation such as late 
hours & wine. The former has not, as you may readily 
suppose, agreed with me very well ; the latter has been 
so prudently managed that I have been enabled to keep 
myself entirely out of the fire. I have long since thor- 
oughly satisfied myself that I was not formed to bear 
the indulgences which are so usual in polite life & so 
prevalent here, and I am more and more convinced that 
comfort as well as health enjoin the strictest abstinence & 
regularity of life. My dissipation has therefore been 
confined to late hours, whose only ill effect is to beget late 
hours in the morning."^ It should also be noted that 
another great question in which Pittsburgh was inter- 
ested at this time was the effort in Congress to still 
further lower the tariff of 1833, which provided for a 
certain gradual reduction of duties, to which the Pennsyl- 
vania Legislature at the time had objected, but to which 
she finally agreed. 

On May nth Mr. Williams was among those who 
addressed a letter of welcome to Mr. Webster, who was 
then passing through the city. On May 20th the alarm 
over the suspension of specie payments by the banks 
over the country caused the Governor to make a procla- 
mation, giving his reasons for not calling an extra ses- 
sion of the Legislature and urging all to sustain the honor 
of the State and be wise in the present crisis. These 
events and the nomination of an Assembly ticket by the 
anti-Masons caused the old Whigs to attempt a new 
move in the reorganization of the old National Re- 
publican party, as an anti-Administration party, which 
could unite all the forces opposed to Van Buren- 

' Williams papers. 



102 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

ism. They also proposed supporting the anti-Ma- 
sonic Assembly ticket. Mr. Williams was one of the 
seven appointed to ' canvass ways and means. The 
result was that Mr. Williams swung the whole move- 
ment about into a thorough Whig reorganization and he 
was made the chairman of a "Whig executive com- 
mittee" of ten persons. This was late in June, after two 
public meetings, and they pronounced for public educa- 
tion, tariff, internal improvements and restricting of ex- 
ecutive prerogatives. They, however, worked vigorously 
for the "Anti-Van Buren ticket," as they preferred to call 
it, and in October gained the victory, so far as Allegheny 
County was concerned, and even made great gains in the 
State. The Advocate of October 19th grew enthusiastic: 
"Last year the Whigs and Anti-Masons had twenty- 
eight Representatives in the Assembly, now they have 
Forty-five!"^ and it noted that with the Senate in pos- 
session of the Whigs there were great hopes for future 
success. The Whigs had heretofore not organized except 
for the campaign, but the Advocate proposed thorough 
permanent organization. Along in November Mr. Wil- 
liams was mentioned as among those considered as good 
material for a Mayor, but he declined to even let his name 
be considered.^ News of victories in New York and 
Massachusetts led to a call for a celebration by the "Anti- 
Van Buren Association," of which Dr. H. D. Sellers was 
president and Mr. Williams corresponding secretary.^ 
This meeting was held on the 13th of December and, after 
resolutions proposed by Mr. Williams, there were ad- 
dresses b}^ Foster, Irwin and Williams. Because of the 
great destitution and sufifering among the poor, due to the 
financial depression of this great panic year, the meeting 
organized for the relief of the poor, as w^as proposed in 
the resolutions offered by Mr. Williams. 

The city ticket was elected in January and he was 
elected to the Select Council. On May i8th the Mayor, 

' The Daily Advocate and Advertiser at the Mercantile Library, Knoxville. 
It is to be noted that the publisher of the Advocate, on October 20th, adver- 
tised for files of his paper from October, 18.35, to October, 1837. It is not 
known whether Mr. Williams had any relation with the Advocate at this time 
other than as an occasional contributor, and even the latter is only probable. 

^ The Advocate of November 25, 1837. 

^ Ibid., November 29th. 



HE BECOMES STATE SENATOR IO3 

J. R. McClintock, was requested by a large number of 
citizens, Mr. Williams' name being third on the list, to 
call a citizens' meeting to memorialize City Councils on 
taking measures in regard to aid to the Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad in its efforts to reach Pittsburgh and the 
Ohio. It is, of course, natural that, as a member of the 
Council, he should wish public expression on the measure, 
although on May 23d, when the meeting was held and 
memorialized Councils to aid by authorizing a million- 
dollar subscription, he was not present. Unfortunately 
no contemporary expression of his views on the matter 
is known. On May 30th, however, the publicly an- 
nounced resignation of State Senator Cornelius Darragh 
threw into the political situation an entirely new element. 
No public reason for this resignation appears in the 
journals of the day, but some private correspondence 
indicates some domestic trials which may have contrib- 
uted to it. These, however, did not affect public expres- 
sion of regard for him and his excellent services, in the 
Gazette of that date. On June 6th both the anti-Masons 
and the "Loco Focos," or "Van Burenites," as the Whigs 
and anti-Masons preferred to call the Democrats, held 
their county convention at Pittsburgh. The anti-Masons 
put up Richard Biddle again for Congress, and, in the 
spirit of union that had been recently exhibited, Thomas 
Williams was nominated to fill the vacancy caused by 
Senator Darragh's resignation. "In the city of Pitts- 
burgh," said the Gazette on June 7th, referring to the 
ticket, "it would be altogether unnecessary to say any- 
thing recommendatory of this gentleman, as a candidate 
for the office to which he is nominated ; but to the electors 
out of the city, we will mention that he is a gentleman of 
considerable legal acquirements, of extensive literary 
attainments, of very steady and industrious habits, and 
in all respects well qualified to discharge the required 
duties in the Senate" — all of which was a great deal, in 
the light of the past, for the editor of the Gazette to ex- 
press. To nominate the man who, more than any other 
man, was responsible for the Whigs of Pittsburgh 
preserving their existence and thriving, indicated how 
thoroughly the panic of '2)7 and the anti-Van Buren spirit 



104 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

had welded the anti-Van Buren elements together.^ It 
need only be noticed that the Van Buren rival candi- 
date for Senator was Mayor J. R. McClintock. 

Meanwhile, on June 5th, the Ritner Young Men's State 
Convention at Reading appointed on their committee of 
correspondence of nine members, three of which were 
to be from each of the following cities, Philadelphia, 
Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, Messrs. Foster, Williams 
and Irwin for the last-mentioned city. On June 15th 
the Whigs of Pittsburgh had a meeting and cordially 
adopted the "Anti-Van Buren ticket," as they called the 
anti-Mason nominations, and appointed a committee of 
fifty to devise ways and means. "Resolved," said they 
in their sixth resolution, "That we rejoice in the selection 
of Thomas Williams to fill the vacancy in the Senate, and 
trust his triumphant election will prove that however suc- 
cessful no-partyism may be in leading to the Mayoralty, it 
will be found the wrong road to Harrisburgh,"- On the 
2oth the Pittsburgh Times noted that the Mercury was in- 
clined to think the "Van-ite" ticket the more talented ; the 
Times suggested that the senatorial candidates stump the 
district ; it and the Gazette both thought it might be great 
fun for the "Anti-Van Burenites" and were quite certain 
the Mercury would not welcome that method of settling 
the question of talent. In the opposition desire to find 
something against Mr. Williams, it is amusing to see 
that they circulated the report that he was born in Con- 
necticut, a matter which the Gazette took occasion to 
deny and the ofifense of which cannot be understood at 
this distance, unless it be a relic of the northern boundary 
war. 

' The anti-Masonic Convention did not readily take to the nomination of 
Mr. Williams, as might naturally be expected, but after their well-known legal 
leader, H. M. Watts, Esq., refused to serve because of his desire to withdraw 
from public life, the convention, in the interest of harmony and the great 
fight that was proposed against the "Van Burenites," or "Loco Focos," as 
they persisted in dubbing them and their gubernatorial candidate, David R. 
Porter, they nominated Williams by a very good majority. 

^ The Gazette of June i8th. Any one who has carefully followed the past 
will appreciate a very significant squib in this issue, quo'ting a Democratic 
paper as follows: "We are requested by a member of the Antimasonic party to 
call on the editor of the Gazette for Mr. Williams' letter, written by him in 
answer to the letter of the Convention;" to which quotation Mr. Craig replies: 
"We should like to know what man pretending to be an Anti-Mason, has 
selected that vile sheet [the American Manufacturer'\ as the vehicle of his 
wishes." No doubt the letter would have made interesting reading for the 
opposition, as Mr. Williams undoubtedly made it clear that he was still a Whig, 
while appreciating the kindness of his anti-Masonic friends. 



HE BECOMES STATE SENATOR IO5 

On the 13th of August a great celebration was held at 
Beale's Island to rejoice over the resumption of specie 
payments by the banks in accordance with Governor 
Ritner's proclamation. Judge H. M. Brackenridge and 
Mr. Williams addressed the meeting and resolutions were 
passed. He also addressed a great meeting in Allegheny 
on the i8th. His committee issued the call for the Ritner 
Young Men's State Convention which met at Pittsburgh 
on September 2d. Allegheny and Butler Counties had 
made repeated efforts to get Dr. McClintock into public 
debate with Williams, but the "Van Burenites" evaded 
it. It is doubtful if there had been a fiercer campaign 
in the history of Allegheny County. The Advocate — with 
which Mr. Williams now seemed to have no connection — 
published his oration of July 4, 1835, in full on that day 
in 1838 for comparison with an address by Dr. McClin- 
tock. On August nth the Whig committee, headed by 
Judge H. M. Brackenridge, published an address to 
voters, in which they said, among many other things: 
"The reputation of Mr. Williams, as a scholar and elo- 
quent public speaker, his high standing in private life as 
a man of sound judgment and sterling worth, leave no 
room to doubt that he will fully answer our expectations 
in the Senate of Pennsylvania."^ Mr. Craig, in noting the 
fierce fight a certain element in Butler was making 
against Williams, admitted that he himself had not 
favored Williams because of his Whig positiveness, but 
that he was the honorably chosen candidate of the anti- 
Masonic Convention, and he gave him his cordial support. 
The result was that Allegheny County gave over 1,500 
majority for Ritner, and gave Williams 5,828 to 4,650 
for his rival— despite the Whig defection. Porter was 
elected Governor and the constitutional amendments 
adopted, with Allegheny County, however, having been 
successful in her entire Whig and anti-Mason ticket. 
Mr. Williams was therefore to have opportunity to see 
how easy it would be to win distinction in, not the Lower 
House, but even the hall of the Senate at Harrisburg, 
and with this event his career extends to far wider bounds 
than those of Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania 

' The Advocate of August ii, 1838. 



I06 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

and he becomes a character of interest, not only to 
the whole State but to even larger territory than that, as 
shall presently appear. 



CHAPTER IX 

"The Buck-Shot War" at Harrisburg and His Serv- 
ices IN THE Senate 

1838 

The fierceness of the great campaign of 1838 was by 
no means confined to Allegheny County, nor, for that 
matter, even to the State of Pennsylvania. The Jackson- 
Van Buren Democrats saw the rising tide of Whig suc- 
cesses over the country and fought with a desperation 
that led to more than one riotous demonstration. In 
Pennsylvania the situation was still further involved by 
the anti-Masonic element, led by Thaddeus Stevens, 
which had struggled so hard to make itself a national 
party for over a half-decade in vain. They had seen also 
in the rising Whig tide the necessity for practically unit- 
ing themselves to the Whig forces, or at least following 
its leadership, as the, to them, lesser of two evils. The 
small margin by which these united Ritner forces were 
apparently defeated roused both sides to the highest pitch 
of excitement and determination not to lose the victory 
because of fraud, which both sides at once loudly pro- 
claimed. It must be remembered that the heat of this 
campaign was due to the financial element in it more than 
anything else. The currency was not on a sound basis ; 
the old Bank had been somewhat of a safety-valve in the 
financial operations of the country, and various measures 
were now proposed in its stead. The suffering which 
was the result of the panic made all public ills come home 
with a personal force that aroused unusual fierceness 
of feeling. The political corruption which grew up 
under the internal improvement systems, together with 
the "spoils" principle and increased executive power 
which had flourished in both state and nation, was a 
leading element in the State campaign also. The constitu- 
107 



I08 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

tional amendments were chiefly devoted to "the abridg- 
ment of the Executive patronage, and the withdrawal of 
all that immense power over the fortunes of individuals, 
which had been wielded by the Executive Magistrate for 
so many years."^ No one of the present day can easily 
realize, for instance, what a power the canal board was at 
this time. 

So wdien the votes were all cast, on October 9th, 1838, 
and it became evident that the contest was close, but lia- 
ble to give the Democrats the Governor, to give the 
Whigs and anti-Masons the Senate, and leave the Lower 
House in doubt, it became evident that there was a very 
critical situation in Philadelphia in the Northern Liber- 
ties. Fraud Avas freely charged on both sides. It is even 
more difficult to get the exact facts at this date than it 
was then, and it was a hard problem enough then. Phila- 
delphia County was divided into two several congres- 
sional districts of opposite politics, although it was a 
unit for electing the Legislature. An eminent lawyer, 
Charles J. Ingersoll, living in a Whig district there, was 
a Van Buren candidate for Congress. It so happened 
that this Third Congressional District, of which he was a 
resident, had judges equally divided in politics, so that 
their votes on the returns were a tie as to whether they 
were correct or not — and consequently no rejection of 
questioned returns could be secured by the Third District 
congressional judges acting alone and on these returns 
previous to those of lower offices. So when the same bal- 
lots were taken to the State House on the 12th of October 
for all the seventeen county judges to canvass votes on 
them for the legislative and other lower offices, these 
same ballots came before a body totally diflferent in polit- 
ical construction, namely, with ten Democratic judges 
and only seven of the opposition. Now heretofore the cus- 
tom had been to settle the congressional matter first and 
then canvass the lower offices, but the Democrats, with 
Mr. Ingersoll at their head, appeared before the judges 
at the State House and demanded the consideration of 
the lower offices first and the rejection of the North 
Philadelphia, or "Liberties," vote entirely on the basis of 

' Journal of the Senate, 1838-39, p. 1,309. 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON S ELECTION IO9 

fraud. The ten judges voted it so, and this rejection of 
the "Liberties" vote would not only give Mr. Ingersoll 
his seat in Congress, but would put certain Democrats in 
both Houses of the Legislature and determine the Demo- 
cratic character of the Lower House. The Whig and 
anti-Mason judges determined that the matter should go 
before the Legislature as a contested election and quietly 
held a meeting and made out the returns for their terri- 
tory and sent them to the Sheriff, who, being in sympathy 
with them, saw that they promptly got ofif to the Secre- 
tary of the Commonwealth, Thomas H. Burrowes, who 
was also State Chairman of the coalition forces — Whigs 
and anti-Masons. The ten judges also sent their returns 
later, but in an irregular manner, it was claimed, so that 
the first returns were treated as official, until the contest 
should be precipitated. 

As soon as Secretary and Chairman Burrowes 
received this news he issued a circular "To the Friends of 
Joseph Ritner," on the 13th, in the Harrisburg Chron- 
icle, in which he charged fraud and proposed immediate 
measures to contest the election, "peacefully, determinedly 
and thoroughly," but "with an honest resolution to sub- 
mit to the result, whether it be favorable or unfavorable 
to our wishes." "Let us," he added in closing, "treat 

THE ELECTION OF THE NINTH INST. AS IF WE HAD NOT 
BEEN DEFEATED, AND IN THAT ATTITUDE ABIDE THE 

RESULT." This last sentence was at once construed by 
the Philadelphia Democrats as a purpose to use force or 
allow the Lower House to organize as two contesting 
Houses and let the Whig-anti-Masonic Senate choose 
which to recognize as the true House. Forthwith there 
were aroused the worst political passions and prepara- 
tions were made to land a mob in Harrisburg on 
December 4th under the direction of a "Committee of 
Safety," as it was called, and overawe any attempt to 
change the returns from the decision of the ten Philadel- 
phia election judges. As preparations proceeded there 
was every determination shown to seat those elected by 
the returns of the ten judges at hazard of bloodshed. It 
can be readily seen by the cool observer, situated at this 
distance, that the followers of both sides were convinced 



no THOMAS WILLIAMS 

that civil machinery had broken down in Philadelphia or 
would break down in Harrisburg, and it is easy enough 
at this distance, also, to say what should have been done. 
The historical purpose, however, is accomplished in the 
tale of how it was done. 

The Senate opened with Speaker Charles B. Penrose 
in the chair. The galleries were crowded to overflowing 
with a mob tense with excitement and threatening in 
looks and murmurs of discontent. Secretary of the Com- 
monwealth Burrowes presented the returns, which 
included the Whig candidates in the Second Phil- 
adelphia District. "A movement was observed in the 
galleries," says the official account,^ "and the tran- 
quility of its chamber and the usual order and decorum of 
its [the Senate's] proceedings were disturbed by frequent 
interruptions and loud cries of approbation or disappro- 
bation from the galleries. An attempt was made by the 
Speaker to repress these first symptoms of disturbance, 
but the effort was found to be unavailing. The excite- 
ment continued and increased in intensity until it found 
vent in loud and tumultuous cries, accompanied by the 
most violent stamping, and followed by a general rush of 
the multitude over the railing which separates the galler- 
ies from the lobbies and into the very bar of the Senate 
chamber itself. Amongst other exclamations were heard, 
as is testified by several of the by-standers, the most 
shocking threats against the persons of individual Sena- 
tors — loud cries for blood, and other expressions equally 
atrocious and equally indicative of a common preparation 
for the wildest extremities which might become neces- 
sary to eflFect the common object." 

This excitement was increased by the negative vote of 
12 to 9 as to receiving any other returns from the Secre- 
tary, but proposing to organize and then treat the con- 
test. The Speaker was then re-elected and, the Senate re- 
fusing to postpone the administration of the oath of office 
to the two Whigs from the Second District of Philadel- 
phia, the usual oaths were taken by the following new 
Senators: Frederick Fraley of Philadelphia, James 
Hanna and William Wagner of its Second District— the 

'■ Majority report of the committee of investigation in the Journal of the 
Senate, 1838-39, p. 1,301. 




CHARLES BINGHAM PENROSE AT ABOUT THl 
Halftone of a painting by Officer in possession of Dr. 



\ -FIVE YEARS OF AGE 
A. F. Penrose, Philadelphia 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON's ELECTION III 

disputed returns, Thomas S. Bell, John Strohm, John 
Killinger, John H. Ewing, William F. Coplan, Samuel 
Hays and Mr. Williams. "But," says the official account 
of the affair, "it was only on the decision of the Senate 
declaring Messrs. Hanna and Wagner to be entitled to 
their seats as Senators, on the return from the county of 
Philadelphia, that the bar of the Senate Chamber itself 
w^as invaded by the rioters. Until that time, they had 
confined themselves to the galleries, holding, however, 
frequent communication with Senators of their own 
party through the medium of certain individuals sta- 
tioned evidently by preconcert in the lobbies for that pur- 
pose, and some of them, too, claiming to be members of 
the House of Representatives. But, on the decision re- 
ferred to, and to the refusal of the Senate to hear Mr. 
Brown [Charles Brown who contested Mr. W^agner's 
place] who was not a member of that body, and who was 
entitled to contest the election in the manner indicated 
by law, the whole multitude precipitated itself into the 
lobbies and body of the Senate Chamber amidst deafening 
cries of 'Brown ! Brown ! Brown ! hear him ! hear him ! 
You shall hear him ! reconsider your vote ! Let Hanna 
and Wagner resign !' For the purpose of appeasing the 
tumult, Mr. Brown was at length permitted to be heard, 
with the understanding that his influence would be ex- 
erted to tranquilize the crowd. His remarks, however, 
were rather calculated to aggravate than to allay the 
excitement ; and to a question put by him, after adminis- 
tering new fuel to the flame, whether they were prepared 
'to drench the floor of the Senate Chamber with the best 
blood of the Commonwealth,' the response was heard 
from all quarters 'we are,' 'we are ;' 'we will have our 
rights or blood.' The Senate adjourned in confusion 
amid loud cries of 'put out the lights,' and other expres- 
sions of a like character, the whole chamber being already 
in possession of the mob, many of the Senators having 
been driven from their seats, and some of them having 
been obliged previously to consult their safety by a 
precipitate flight through the windows. Amongst those 
who escaped in this manner were the Speaker of that 
body, and even one or more of the Senators of the oppo- 



112 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

site party, together with Mr. Stevens and Mr. Burrowes, 
the Secretary of the Commonwealth, who had entered 
the Chamber in the performance of his official duties. 
These gentlemen were known to be particularly obnox- 
ious to the rioters, their names had been heard in the gal- 
leries in connection with the most diabolical threats, and 
it was only in obedience to the importunities of their 
friends, as well as the advice of certain of their political 
opponents, that they were induced to seek safety in 
flight." Mr. Williams, himself, being a new Senator and 
not having a part in the momentous decision on the Phil- 
adelphia Senators, had no occasion for fear and was not 
among those who left the room at that time in the even- 
ing, for, it should be stated, this was an evening session. 
It will be well also to remember that the preliminary 
facts such as have preceded this narrative were not 
known in full either to the public or the Senators and the 
public mind was inflamed by the suspicions that always 
lurk in the unknown. 

It is not desirable in limited space to enter upon de- 
tails of these December days at Harrisburg, except so 
far as they relate to Mr. Williams' career in the Senate. 
Suffice it to say, the mob took possession of the town ; 
the Senate refused to meet until order was restored ; the 
House was in the throes of double organization in the 
same room, each claiming recognition by the Senate ; the 
Governor had ordered troops on to the capital and the 
mob were holding incendiary meetings. On the third 
day, namely, December 6th, Mr. Williams wrote his 
wife : "My little experience as a legislator has not been 
of a character to enamour me of the situation. I find that 
I have embarked upon a stormy sea & have been 
doomed to witness a state of things which has no paral- 
lel in the political annals of this Union. We are in the 
midst of a revolution. Scenes have been enacted in both 
wings of the Capitol within two days which have no 
example but in the Constituent Assembly of France 
in the worst & most violent days of their disastrous revo- 
lution. An irruption has been made into the Senate 
Chamber by a lawless and infuriated mob composed prin- 
cipally of the butchers of the Faubourgs of Philadelphia 



W^^M 




''^10 


1 'XjT ijfeiBrHMiilf'' >^^^^^^^^BN 


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w -" O 



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THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISONS ELECTION II3 

& the determination has been openly proclaimed to coerce 
that body into an unconditional submission to their com- 
mands. The blood-hounds of the party have been baying 
at our very throats & demanding the sacrifice of several 
of the more obnoxious members of the party & in the 
confusion & uproar of the moment the Speaker himself 
was obliged to escape through the windows of the Capi- 
tol. The Whig and Anti-Masonic members of the Sen- 
ate have under these circumstances declined meeting 
until this insurrectionary movement shall be put down, 
or sufificient force assembled here for our protection. 
Measures are now in train to assure this result, & I have 
no doubt will be successful. The leaders of the populace 
begin to ponder on the consequences of the course which 
they have so rashly pursued, & as their blood begins to 
cool & their reason to return, they are evidently shaken in 
their determination. They fear too that we are privately 
assembling troops for our protection & under that im- 
pression endeavored to obtain possession of the public 
arms on yesterday by seizing the Arsenal. But we were 
beforehand with them. We had taken the precaution to 
throw a reinforcement into the Arsenal & after an inef- 
fectual attempt to bring us to terms, they abandoned the 
enterprise altogether. 

"We have determined in the present state of things, 
if we are not permitted to assemble but under the dicta- 
tion of an armed mob, to abandon the seat of Government 
& adjourn to Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, or to separate 
& go home. There is no shrinking in the Senate. It is 
composed of men who will do their duty at all hazards & 
under all circumstances. The House of Representatives 
is divided into two bodies. When our friends attempted 
to reassemble there yesterday, they found it in the pos- 
session of the mob & their Speaker was forcibly dragged 
from his seat & hurried out of the Hall. You will find an 
account of the whole proceedings in the newspapers & 
in an Address which we are about preparing to the 
People of Pennsylvania. We are at present in a state 
of excitement which has prevented us from organizing 
fully, or supplying ourselves with the newspapers. As 
soon as I am in possession of them I will endeavor to 



114 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

keep you informed of all that is going on at Harris- 
burgh." 

"What a beautiful spectacle to be presented by a 
republic !" said an editorial in the Philadelphia Public 
Ledger on December 7th. "What a beautiful commentary 
upon the assertion so often made in stump speeches, by 
unprincipled demagogues to unthinking crowds, and so 
often blazoned in capitals by editorial prostitutes in venal 
pages, that the Americans are the most enlightened peo- 
ple in the world ! Are we surprised? No ! We expected 
it all ! We predicted it all ! We knew that when the 
elements of disorder had been so frequently set in opera- 
tion for local purposes, they would finally overspread the 
land, and terminate in some terrible commotion. When 
we saw Pennsylvania Hall in flames, surrounded by a 
mob yelling with demoniac delight over the wreck of 
natural, constitutional and statutory right, and crowds 
of sober citizens looking on with apparent indifference, 
while constituted authorities were wicked enough to 
favor, or too cowardly to oppose the outrage, we said that 
a fire was kindled which could not readily be extinguished, 
and which would certainly break out in more conspicuous 
places, and spread wider devastation." 

While this editorial was being read on the streets of 
Philadelphia (December 7th) Major-General R. Patter- 
son, of the First Division of the Pennsylvania militia, 
was issuing his first general orders for the assembling 
of troops at Broad and Market streets to proceed 
to the capital, "provided with thirteen rounds of 
buck-shot cartridges, and seventeen rounds of ball 
cartridges" — an order which, because it was said the 
first-named cartridges had three buck-shot in them, 
gave to these riots the title of "Buck-Shot War."^ 
The early prospect of troops made possible the reas- 
sembling of the Senate with a quorum on the 8th, and 
Mr. Williams wrote his wife: "Our difficulties still re- 
main unadjusted, & the end is as dark and uncertain as 
ever. The Senate declined meeting during the week in 

' Hon. Charles Brown, years after, gave a public account of these dis- 
turbances, in which he was so conspicuous, and notes this fact. His collection 
of papers in reference to them are now in the Pennsylvania Historical Society. 
They charge Stevens and the anti-Masons as the cause of this disorder. 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON S ELECTION II 5 

consequence of the continued presence of the mob who 
declared openly their determination to compel us into 
the admission of the Loco Foco members from the 
County of Philadelphia, & the recognition of the House 
constituted under their auspices. This morning, how- 
ever, we determined to proceed in a body to the Capitol 
at all hazards. No attempt was made to interrupt us 
inasmuch as no exciting topic was started, & as our 
friends were present in considerable numbers for our pro- 
tection. The Lower House however is still prevented 
from assembling & the mob continues to maintain undis- 
puted sway at Harrisburgh. The civil authorities have 
refused to interfere & the Governor has according [ly] 
order [ed] a large detachment of volunteers from Philada. 
& Carlisle, who are expected this evening.^ Warrants of 
arrest against the principal rioters on the charge of High 
Treason have been issued today by Judge Blythe & 
placed in the hands of the proper authorities &: the dis- 
turbances will soon be quelled. The whole force of the 
attack seems to be directed against Messrs. Penrose, 
Stevens & Burrowes who are thus far the only individ- 
uals whose persons have been considered in danger. Mr. 
Penrose who is the Speaker of the Senate did not venture 
to appear in his seat this morning, having withdrawn to 
Carlisle for his personal safety. It is important that the 
difficulty should be arranged by Thursday as that is the 
day fixed for counting the votes for Governor, in the 
presence of both Houses. When or how it will end, it is 
impossible to predict. We must be sustained by the peo- 
ple or there is an end of our State Government the only 
question being whether the Law or the mob of Philada. 
shall prevail in the contest." 

During this day the Senate was organized and Mr. 
Williams was made a member of the standing commit- 
tees on accounts, judiciary and estates and escheats. 
On the nth the Amendment returns were opened and 
they stood 113,971 for, and 112,759 against. The contest 
for Hanna's seat was begun also. "Our difficulties 
here," said Mr. Williams in a letter of this date, "remain 



' He notes in pencil a postscript to this letter as follows: "200 of the 
troops ordered from Phila. have just arrived — 2800 more are on the way." 



Il6 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

Still unsettled & apparently as far from adjustment as 
ever. We are in the midst of an armed force, brought 
here to preserve the public peace, & Harrisburgh, usually 
a quiet place, now resembles a camp. An immense con- 
course of people is gathered together from all quarters, 
& a degree of exasperation seems to prevail, by no means 
favorable to the restoration of the public tranquility. 
This state of things cannot endure long, & I begin to look 
to the contingency of an early adjournment as not alto- 
gether improbable. We cannot legislate to the public 
benefit under the present excitement, even though we 
prevail in the contest." It was on the 12th that the guber- 
natorial returns were opened and it was shown that 
Ritner had been defeated, 127,821 to 122,325, and on the 
13th that a committee was chosen to report on which of 
the two Houses should be recognized, a report that was 
presented on the 15th. On the following day, Mr. Wil- 
liams wrote : "The remainder of the troops sent here for 
our protection were withdrawn this morning, not because 
our difficulties are adjusted, but from the necessity of 
relieving the men themselves, who have generally been 
withdrawn from their business without due preparation 
& were becoming very much dissatisfied with their deten- 
tion. They are, however, to remain organized & ready to 
march at an hour's warning & the artillery is to be placed 
at the head of the inclined plane for the purpose of facili- 
tating their movements. Arrangements are also made for 
bringing troops from Carlisle & Chambersburgh, if they 
should be required, & a sufficient force will be stationed 
at the arsenal to guard the public arms. The great ques- 
tion which of the two Houses we shall recognize came 
before us yesterday & the debate was opened in a 
crowded house, & under great excitement. The decision 
will not take place before Tuesday or Wednesday, but if, 
as is highly probable, we shall determine on recognizing 
the Whig Branch, it will produce a tremendous sensation. 
I do not, however, apprehend any further violence, & was 
entirely satisfied that the troops should be permitted to 
withdraw." 

On the 17th the Wagner and Bell contests were pre- 
cipitated and Mr. Williams was made one of the select 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON S ELECTION II7 

committee in both contests, while on the 19th and 20th 
the report on the two Houses was made and there was 
a vote that showed 20 to 13 Hkely to favor the Whig 
House. On the 24th he writes: "Tomorrow, * * *^ 
will be Christmas, but it brings no holiday to me. Our 
difficulties are still unsettled & however anxious we may 
be for the usual adjournment, there is no authority under 
the Constitution which will enable us to separate for 
more than three days. I might perhaps have obtained 
leave of absence, but in the present crisis the country 
requires my presence. A single vote may be decisive of 
the great question which has agitated us & convulsed the 
Commonwealth since the beginning of the Session. The 
subject has been under discussion in divers forms for 
several days & in consequence of the defection of several 
of our friends in the Whig House, which has reduced their 
number below the Constitutional quorum & rendered 
them incompetent for business purposes, several of our 
friends in the Senate have been staggered & the scales 
now hang doubtful. Under these circumstances, it be- 
comes every true man to stand to his post, & I trust I, 
at least, shall never be found wanting in the performance 
of my duty. I was talking this evening with the member 

from who is one of those who falter. His wife is 

here, not well, & anxious to get home & he desires there- 
fore a temporary adjournment. I told him that his wife 
had made him a coward, & that he ought not to have 
brought her here, 'But,' said I, *I have a wife composed 
of different material. If she were here, she would bid 
me stand by my post, as long as my physical powers 
would maintain me. * * * Mr. Ewing has just come 
over to my seat to say that there is a prospect of a com- 
promise between the two Houses. * * * I have been 
unfortunately placed on two committees in cases of con- 
tested election & we are obliged by law to meet in each 
case every day & they promise to occupy us the whole 
winter. The half of Phila. County is present in the one 
case with all the ballot boxes which will probably have to 
be counted anew. It is therefore all work with me, & I 
am totally unable to attend to my Pittsburgh correspond- 
ence. My situation is no sinecure, I assure you, & to add 



Il8 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

to its unpleasantness, we are obliged 'to work all day & 
find ourselves.' The State Treasurer who is a Loco Foco 
refuses to pay us until the disturbances are settled, with 
the hope perhaps of starving us out. If that be his game 
however, he will find us hard to subdue, even by putting 
us on short allowance." 

On Christmas Day an effort was made to recognize 
the Whig House, but by a vote so close as 17 to 16 it was 
in vain, Williams' vote being cast with the minority. 
This, after some parliamentary skirmishing, was followed 
by a recognition of the other House by the same vote.^ 
"The die is cast," wrote Williams the day following. 
"The long agony is over. The Senate yesterday by a vote 
of 17 to 16 after a hard fought battle of five hours deter- 
mined in the face of their former resolution to recognize 
the House organized under Wm. H. Hopkins, on the 
ground that being now composed of a quorum of undis- 
puted members by the defection of those of our friends, it 
was the true House within the meaning of the Consti- 
tution. This result was brought about by the desertion 
(I was going to say treachery) of six of our friends in the 
Senate. We battled hard against the decision & my tom- 
ahawk was lifted in the melee for the first time during the 
Senate. I felt a desire to speak on the question, but my 
courage faltered, until the last vote was about to be taken. 
I rose then with a tremulous voice, not being able to 
contain myself any longer & to the astonishment of 
house, lobby & galleries I poured forth a torrent of de- 
nunciation & invective, which nobody dreamed so mild a 
man as me capable of uttering. I had established by my 
silence & by my good-natured countenance a character 
for moderation which was entirely foreign to my true 
nature. I suppose I have lost it irrevocably now. The 
house was crowded to overflowing & such was the inter- 
est taken in the debate & such the silence that pervaded 
the galleries that you might have heard a whisper 
through the whole Chamber. I spoke twice & was so 
fortunate (whether deservedly or not) as 'to win golden 

' Joitmal of the Senate, 1838-39, p. 148. Those who voted with Williams 
were Speaker Penrose, Wagner, Sterrett, Purviance, Pearson, Paul, Maclay, 
Killinger, Irvin, Hanna, Fraley (Phila.), Ewing, Cassatt, Bell (Huntingdon) 
and Barclay. Wagner resigned the next day. 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AXD HARRISONS ELECTION II9 

opinions from all sorts of people.' They would not under- 
take anything like a general reply to the arguments of our 
side, but persisted in forcing the question on us until we 
were voted down. During the whole contest I am happy 
to say, the Western men stood firm as their own hills. 
Not a man in all our little phalanx consisting of nine 
Whig Senators from beyond the mountains ever flinched. 
They came up to the battle with the courage & discipline 
of a trained soldiery & fell fighting valiantly in behalf of 
the Constitution & the Laws."^ 

Senator Williams saw no reason why the two branches 
of the Legislature should not have been organized in the 
usual orderly way, whatever had been done, and then 
have taken up the contests and abuses in the way pro- 
vided by law. The compromise methods and clever 
maneuvers of the extremists of both sides had no part in 
his purview. He neither admired the exasperating finesse 
of Mr. Stevens and his followers nor the mobocracy 
of the extreme or "Equal Rights" wing of the Democrats, 
called, from the use of "Loco Foco" matches at the Tam- 
many riot in 1835, "Loco Focos." This contest was 
indeed the natural consequence of a dominance of extrem- 
ists on both sides. The anti-Masonic leaders like Stevens, 
high-minded and noble as they were in many of their 
ideas, by the adoption of fierce, proscriptive intolerance 
of secretism as the dominant principle of their political 
philosophy, were peculiarly exasperating in their meth- 
ods. Theirs was the spirit of a war of extermination. 
It is doubtful if any one of even fairly judicial or histor- 
ical mind can read Stevens' productions of this date on 
these themes without feeling that they were peculiarly 
calculated to exasperate rather than be constructive. 
Then, too, when their political philosophy was so largely 
based on the cornerstone of unverified suspicions of 
secret intrigue and hidden machinations, it is not strange 
that an element dominated by the "Loco Focos" should 
charge them also with peculiar facility at intrigue and 
refuse to trust them to honorable settlement through the 
processes of law — and that was precisely what did happen. 



' This debate and its excitements undoubtedly led to the sudden death of 
Senator Cassatt, of Adams, from heart failure. His death was announced on 
the 26th. 



120 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

Suspicion poisoned the whole body poHtic of Pennsyl- 
vania. The "Buck-Shot War" was the anti-Mason-Loco 
Foco war. A Democratic "burlesque medley" — as its 
author, "Peleg Sturtevant," called it — was issued at 
Harrisburg early in 1839 under the title "The Buck- 
Shot War; or, The Last Kick of Anti-Masonry."^ And so, 
indeed, did it prove, but, it may also be noted, it was 
accompanied by phenomena that looked much like the 
last gasps of "Loco Foco-ism" and its mobocracy, and 
the rise of the Whigs to leadership. 

Mr. Williams at once took a prominent place in the 
Senate proceedings, and on the 24th of January, 1839, was 
added to the standing committee on private claims. On 
the following day he wrote: "We are not yet entirely 
quieted at Harrisburgh. It is impossible indeed that we 
should be so, until we get rid of the noisy Loco Focos, 
who have been seeking offices from the new Governor.^ 
Such a time as we had at the inauguration, you can 
hardly imagine ! Such noise & confusion prevailed 
throughout the densely crowded Hall of -the House of 
Representatives that you would have supposed that all 
the dram-shops of Pennsylvania had disgorged their cus- 
tomers for the occasion ! And we poor Senators, jammed 
up in the very center of that crowd like so many pickled 
herring in a barrel, without any possibility of escape, or 
even of locomotion ! I pray that it may not be my fate 
to figure in such a ceremony again. Among the other 
applicants for office, we have been overridden by the 
Loco Focos of Pittsburgh — and a goodly set they are ! 
They complain bitterly, I am told, of my neglect, & 
threaten vengeance at the next fall elections — more es- 
pecially because I thought proper to pay some attention 
to several gentlemen who were from Pittsburgh a few days 
ago. * * * I do not however stand much in awe 
of the Loco Focos. I have defied their displeasure 

' A copy may be seen at the Pennsylvania Historical Society. \\"hile its 
charges may have no foundation, it is very amusing reading. 

- The new Governor, Mr. Porter, had an interesting reference to the 
revised Constitution in his message of January 15th: "This instrument," said 
he, "gives to popular suffrage the decision of many appointments heretofore 
vested in the executive, and changes the duration of the judicial tenure from 
that of good behavior to a term of years. It shortens the period of eligibility 
to the executive chair, and reduces the Senatorial term: enlarges the right of 
suffrage, and changes other provisions, all of which are important in the 
conduct of the government of the State." 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON S ELECTION 121 

heretofore & am prepared, if necessary, to meet them 
again before the People of Allegheny. You ask me to 
describe the doings or the Senate. The most important 
perhaps, more especially to you and me is the fact that I 
made a regular speech this afternoon — the first since my 
return. I believe it was quite as well received as the 
other of which you seem to be so proud."^ 

This "regular" speech to which he refers brought 
forth from the United States Gazette of Philadelphia of the 
28th the following: "Mr. Williams who is decidedly one 
of the most able members and best speaker in the Sen- 
ate, spoke at great length."^ 

It was evident that the Senate was attracting the 
chief attention at Harrisburg, as can be seen in the press 
of that day. "We are very quiet here at present," wrote 
Mr. Williams on February 3d, "though not exactly in the 
proper temper for doing business. There are few sub- 
jects that can pass the ordeal of the Senate without de- 
bate, while in the Lower House everything goes off 
without discussion. The consequence therefore is that 
the Senate, though a much smaller body, is now & that 
too for the first time, the great center of attraction. Our 
galleries are generally thronged with people & our lobbies 
crowded with the members of the other House & other 
privileged persons — the ladies being of that number. 
The temptation to speak is therefore very strong. I have 
however indulged in that way but two or three times 
since my return. It has indeed been my fortune to 
acquire so much more reputation than I have fairly de- 
served by the few feeble efiforts which I have made, that 
I am almost afraid of dispelling the illusion by venturing 
too far."^ He also made a speech on February 3d which 
was considered by many the best of his efforts. 

On February 12th the Senate made Mr. Williams one 
of the committee to inquire into the cause of the late dis- 
turbances and the justification of the calling out of the 
militia. This was the beginning of the treatment of this 



> He mentions in this letter the death of his old friend Macbeth. 

2 File in the Philadelphia Library, Juniper and Locust streets. 

3 In a letter of February loth {1839) he says: "We have no regular 
reporters here to disenchant the public by ^ taking down all the crude & 
undigested remarks which fall from a speaker's lips." 



122 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

subject by the Senate, which culminated in the great de- 
bate in committee of the whole over the payment of the 
troops — a debate participated in by Penrose, Brown, 
Parsons, Fraley, Pearson, Williams and others, in 
speeches that covered several days. Mr. Williams' 
speech occurred on the 21st of March (1839). He was 
especially severe on the so-called "Committee of Safety" 
or "Provisional Government." 

"We have heard, Mr. Chairman," said he, "several high 
eulogiums pronounced in the course of this, as well as other 
debates, on the character and conduct of that famous com- 
mittee to which I have just referred. For myself, I have not 
thought proper on any former occasion to speak of that com- 
mittee. I did not choose to bestow on them any temporary 
elevation, or any factitious dignity by introducing them into any 
discussion here. There are, however, times and circumstances 
under which it may become necessary to deviate from a general 
course of policy like that which I have heretofore adopted on 
this subject. That time has, in my opinion, now arrived, and 
inasmuch as the Senator from the county [Philadelphia] has 
on more than one occasion thought proper to pronounce a 
lofty encomium on that committee, I shall feel myself bound 
to express my opinions in reply, and to express them fully and 
without reserve. I shall not be restrained by the consideration 
that I speak in the presence of an individual member of that 
committee, who, as has been more than once boasted on this 
floor, has been elevated by the people to the dignity of a Senator, 
and made a companion of mine here — officially, I beg it to be 
understood, and only officially. 

"The Senator from the county has thought proper to com- 
pare these men to the heroes and sages of that glorious revolu- 
tion by which our independence was achieved, and the cause in 
which they were embarked to the same great and glorious 
struggle. I have been always taught to respect the memories 
of those great men who have illustrated the annals of their 
country and done so much to deserve its gratitude. In justice 
therefore to them, I feel constrained by the comparison which 
that Senator has instituted and invited, to examine the preten- 
sions of this committee to the distinction which has been thus 
assigned them. 

"Who then were the members of this Committee of Safety? 
Of what material was it composed? Was it made up of men of 
high character acting under the generous impulse of a lofty 
patriotism, as has been so frequently asserted? I have the honor 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON S ELECTION I23 

of knowing very few of them personally, but on the faith of the 
information which I have been able to collect, I take it upon me 
to deny this claim in the face of the Senate, and in the face of 
the whole people of Pennsylvania, as false and unfounded in 
each and every particular. I venture to affirm that so far from 
being entitled to the panegyrics which have been lavished upon 
them, they were generally men of depraved morals, and of 
broken and desperate fortunes ; men who had everything to gain 
and nothing to lose by revolution ; such men, in short, as Cata- 
line is represented by his historians to have raked from the 
sewers of ancient Rome in the most profligate and degenerate 
era of that republic. If there were any exceptions to this 
description, they were 'like angels' visits, few and far between.' 
The men of the revolution were of a different character, and 
acted upon a dififerent impulse. They fought for their altars 
and their firesides, and pledged their private fortunes on the 
struggle. These men, without risk to private fortunes, were 
fighting only for 'the spoils,' and they have been rewarded; 
some with offices and others in the character of assistant door- 
keepers to the House of Representatives, by 'the eternal grati- 
tude of the country,' to which the Senator from the county has 
declared them to be entitled, computed in money at the round 
sum of one dollar and a half a day ! Patriots at one dollar and 
a half a day ! Eternal gratitude reduced to arithmetical admeas- 
urement ! And these are the men who have been compared with 
the worthies of the Revolution ! 

"Sir, I could have borne almost anything but this; but when 
I hear such men as these compared with Washington and Han- 
cock, and Adams ; — when I hear the name of gravely 

associated with that of the immortal Washington, I want lan- 
guage to express, as an American citizen, my deep abhorance 
and indignation, at the insults thus offered to the memories of 
the great patriots, and statesmen, and warriors of our revolu- 
tion ! It is too much for any man, possessing the feelings which 
ought to animate every American bosom, to hear patiently 
the declaration that these men acted under the same impulses 
of patriotism which directed and governed the armies of the 
revolution. Sir, they acted under no other impulses than such as 
could be purchased by rewards and rum. These men engaged 
in a struggle like that of our revolutionary forefathers ! Our 
forefathers made resistance to parliamentary usurpation. Was 
this the fact with regard to those would-be patriots? No, sir; 
their resistance was to the laws of their own enactment, to those 
very principles which were then established by our ancestors, 
and entrusted for safe keeping, to their posterity. Aye, sir, 



124 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

they were recreant to the principles for which the men of the 
revolution contended; they were traitors to the cause in which 
LaFayette bled on the plains of Brandywine, and Warren died 
on the field of Bunker Hill. Was it not enough, then, that the 
image of the immortal Washington, which looks down upon us 
from yonder wall, placed there, as it would seem, in order that 
his spirit might preside over our deliberations, should have been 
scandalized by the exhibition which we have witnessed here, and 
that the Senator from the county should have turned his back 
on that image, as he did upon the principles of the man whom it 
was intended to represent, when he addressed his fellow-citizens 
in the galleries ? Was it not enough that this sacred hall, which 
has been provided for our reception, and dedicated to a high and 
holy purpose, should have been turned into a pandemonium, by 
the presence of an unhallowed mob? Was it not enough that 
the principles of the revolution had been disregarded, and the 
constitution and the laws trampled under foot? Was all this 
not profanation enough, that our ears must be habitually 
offended with the blasphemy which would place these men on a 
level with the Washingtons and Hancocks and Adamses of the 
revolution ? Sir, this is too much for my patience. I flatter 
myself that I am blessed with as much equanimity, and as much 
philosophical forbearance as other men ; but I cannot listen in 
silence, when such blasphemies as these are uttered of the father 
of our common country, and those who co-operated with him 
in the great work of independence.'" 

After dealing with various phases of the debate in the 
same vigorous manner, he turned his attention to the 
Senator from Philadelphia County. It is unfortunate 
that limited space allows only brief extracts from this 
beautiful and powerful discourse, which is worthy of the 
best days of even congressional debate. 

"I shall be relieved, Mr. Chairman," he proceeds, "from the 
necessity of dwelling upon these opinions of the Senator from 
the county, by the consideration that they are of a character so 
odious and abominable as to be unworthy of repetition in a town 
meeting, much less in the Senate of Pennsylvania. They are too 
perilous for frequent exhibition here, for it may be truly said of 

' From a copy of a report of the speech in possession of the Pennsylvania 
Historical Society, in bound pamphlets, entitled "The Buck-Shot War," p. log. 

This speech was resented by the Senator from Adams, and a reporter 
from the paper called the Keystone expanded that Senator's remarks into an 
address such as would never have been allowed in the Senate. Mr. Williams 
challenged this and secured an investigation, which revealed these facts. 

The reports of the majority and minority on the armed force are most 
interesting and may be seen in the Journal of the Senate for :838-39, beginning 
on pp. 1293 and 1357. 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON S ELECTION I25 

them, as has been remarked of the monster vice, in the beautiful 
language of the poet : 

" 'Vice is a monster of such hideous mien, 
That to be hated, needs but to be seen ; 
But seen too oft, familiar with its face, 
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.' 

"Resistance to the laws, I hold to be treason against civil 
society. The first duty of the citizen is obedience to the laws, 
not as he may understand them, but as interpreted by those to 
whom that duty has been assigned by the constitution and the 
laws themselves. These principles are more particularly appli- 
cable to a government where the laws are enacted by the people 
themselves, because it would be a species of political suicide for 
the rulers themselves to turn their hands against the laws which 
have been enacted by their own representatives. I repeat that 
doctrines such as these are odious and inadmissible, and I again 
warn the Senator from the county that they are not to be 
repeated here. If the lazvs are to be dethroned, and the mere 
will of the people, whenever or wherever assembled, is to be set 
up in their stead, you may scatter your constitutions of parchment 
to the wind. Your mere paper securities will not avail you. 
They may be annihilated in a moment and your sheet anchor 
will be snapped in twain. If the Senator from the county will 
set up this Juggernaut — the popular will, he is likely to be among 
the first who will be crushed beneath its iron wheels. If he will 
cut away all our securities, and cast the reins loose upon the 
neck of the populace, if he will persist in evoking the demon of 
party passion, let him beware of the retribution which has fallen 
upon those who have tried the same experiment elsewhere. I 
do not agree with the Senator from the city, (Mr. Fraley) that 
he (from the county) is at all likely to be elevated to the throne 
of that despotism to which his doctrines would eventually con- 
duct this government. On the contrary, he would be perhaps the 
first victim of the excitement which he had been so instrumental 
in producing. If he attempted to direct the storm, he would 
be the first to perish by its fury. He would most probably find 
himself in the condition of Actaeon, pursued, overtaken, and 
finally devoured by his own hounds. I warn that Senator again 
to ponder well on the probable consequence of these opinions. 
A few more successful attempts to enforce them, would drive 
the people for protection into the arms of a monarchy. For my 
own part, if I am doomed to live under a government of will, 
I had rather it were the will of one man than of many ; rather a 
concentrated tyranny than the tryanny of a many headed mob. 



126 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

I might then expect to receive some indemnity in national glory 
for the loss of national liberty. Then, Mr. Chairman, yonder 
eagle, the proud emblem of American sovereignty which now 
stoops above your head, might in some distant land and under 
the auspices of some distinguished chief, be heard screaming 
in triumph above the thunders of a battle field, or like the 
imperial eagles of the great Napoleon, soar to the top of another 
Mount Bernard, or stoop on the plains of another Austerlitz. 
Rather, far rather, to my country be such a destiny as this, than 
the despotism of a revolutionary tribunal, or the rule of a Phila- 
delphia mob.'" 

"The people," said he in a closing paragraph that was to 
prove prophetic, "may be deceived for the moment by such 
means as have been adopted in this case to mislead them, but 
when they come to decide understandingly on the evidence, I 
have no fear of the result. The Senator from the county has 
indulged in frequent and exulting references to these elections 
as an index of a general change throughout the country. Aye, 
there have indeed been changes within a very short period of 
time. If that Senator is disposed to look for the evidence of 
change let me turn his attention homeward, and ask him what 
has become of the majorities of thousands of which the party 
could once boast in his own district ? They have dwindled down 
to almost nothing. What, I may also ask, has become of the 
fifty-thousand majority which the same party vaunted but a few 
years ago throughout this Commonwealth? It, too, has fallen 
off in the same proportion. The people are at last beginning to 
see the true state of affairs in this country. The light is break- 
ing in upon them. They are beginning to rise under their 
oppression, and to speak with a degree of boldness to which they 
have been heretofore unused. They are soon about to reclaim 
their lost privileges. Already their ponderous battle axe is heard 
thundering against the door of the Executive palace at Wash- 
ington. The bars and bolts and fastenings are giving away, 
and that stronghold of iniquity will soon be entered sword in 
hand, and that robber-band which has been so long plundering 
the Treasury of the Nation, be driven from the power which 
they have abused with the loud and deep execrations of an 
outraged and indignant people." 

While the Buck-Shot War dominated the entire ses- 
sion of 1838-39, it was by no means to the exclusion of a 
great mass of most important legislation, the details of 
which cannot be entered upon in limited space. Nor were 

' Ibid., p. 141. 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON S ELECTION \2J 

Mr. Williams' activity and usefulness by any means con- 
fined to his public utterances ; indeed, his greatest work 
was in the quiet and regular progress of legislation and 
the unusual amount of work on the most important com- 
mittees. This was an important session in still further 
carrying out the spirit of the revised Constitution, increas- 
ing the popular control over a greater number of public 
offices. It was a very short time, also, before he became 
the sole spokesman of the judiciary committee, whose 
reports he almost invariably made. It is not, however, 
possible to pass over the important work which he for- 
warded for the seaboard transportation facilities for 
Pittsburgh in the direction of Baltimore. This latter 
city had, so early as 1826, felt the success of the Erie 
Canal and the "public works," as they were called, of 
Pennsylvania in drawing to New York and Philadelphia 
trade which they believed was naturally their own.^ In 
consequence they explored the various methods of trans- 
portation and finally favored the rail system, and the 
recent adaptation of a locomotive engine to it, and on 
March 5, 1827, secured of the Maryland Legislature a 
charter of incorporation of the first railroad line in 
America, under title of "The Baltimore and Ohio [of 
course meaning the river] Rail Road." Before a year had 
passed the Pittsburgh people had taken measures to 
secure from the Legislature of their own State an act to 
permit this road to make an extension to that city, either 
by making its main line go to the Ohio at that point or 
providing a branch for the same purpose. The act was 
secured on February 28, 1828, but not without numer- 
ous and severe restrictions calculated to make the enter- 
prise difficult, for many Pennsylvanians looked upon it as 
threatening the welfare of their own public works and 
their metropolis on the Delaware. It was distinctly 
limited to Pittsburgh and provided that the road must be 
completed in fifteen years, or by 1843. As the panic years 
had prevented the company from even reaching Cumber- 
land by the time of this session of 1838-39, it was evident 
that the company should require more time, and Senator 
Williams, and his friends in the House, worked very hard 

' "History of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad," by "A Citizen of Balti- 
more," 1853, p. 9. 



128 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

to secure an extension, and other aid as well. The debate 
was precipitated May 28th, when a bill w^as reported in 
the House, and on the following day the correspondent 
of the United States Gazette of Philadelphia wrote his 
paper: "There appears to be quite a diversity of opinion 
amongst the members with regard to the effects of the 
road upon the interests of our State and of her citizens 
in different parts of the State. "^ By the next month the 
fight was on in full force and it was only by accepting the 
most detailed and severe restrictions and protection for 
the trade of Philadelphia that a supplementary bill was 
passed extending the time four years, or until 1847,^ thus 
postponing a struggle, which, in its various phases, for 
the control of the great traffic centering at Pittsburgh, 
has continued even down to our own time.^ 

The Legislature adjourned on June 25th, and the bril- 
liant young Senator from Allegheny, as people of all 
parties, nearly, in Pittsburgh delighted to style him, had 
won a State reputation of high character, and become 
recognized by all the leading forces of the State as an 
independent mind whose integrity and power could only 
be counted on for lines of action which he himself 
believed to be right.* These qualities, however, were not 
to have so much opportunity for exercise during the next 
session, for, although he was re-elected without trouble 

' The United States Gazette, May 31, 1839. 

2 "Laws of Pennsylvania," 1838-39, p. 355. The date of the bill is June 20, 
1839. 

* Even while these pages are being written the Wabash Railway system is 
celebrating the entry of its first train into Pittsburgh— the latest chapter in the 
story in which Senator Williams was then so earnestly figuring as a leader. 

* The Philadelphia Herald, speaking of this session (date of clipping 
unfortunately not given, but it is among the Williams papers), said: "Now the 
whole history of the last session of the Legislature, war and all, shows no more 
positive instance of fearlessness, both moral and physical, than was exhibited 
by Thomas Williams. He was the champion of Whig right and Whig prin- 
ciples, and defended their cause, and attacked their opponents with a stream of 
impassioned eloquence, steady, unwavering and pertinacious. His conduct 
throughout was entirely [Mutilated. — Author.] by any disposition to succumb 
to the threats and denunciations that were hurled at him, by his adversaries, 
whilst writhing under the lash of his unqualified language of reprehension. 
* * * — In the expression of his political creed and principles he was succinct, 
clear, bold and uncompromising. In regard to his duties as Senator, he was 
industrious and attentive, and as a memlier of the judiciary committee, his 
services were highly appreciated by his colleagues, and to him devolved a large 
portion of the labor of drafting bills of a legal character. * * *— Mr. Williams 
is a delightful speaker; his language is choice and forcible, and his classical 
allusions and applications are creditable to his education and to his taste. 
His manners are gentlemanly and pleasing, and evince much amiability of 
temperament. Of all our remembrances of the eventful session of i83?-39. there 
are none that cling to us with more pleasurable association than our com- 
panionship with Thomas Williams of Allegheny." 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON S ELECTION I29 

and the United Whigs and anti-Masons both carried the 
Pittsburgh region and won the nomination of General 
Harrison at the anti-Masonic Convention and Whig 
National Convention at Harrisburg in December, the 
Whig and anti-Masonic members of the State Senate 
found themselves in the minority when they assembled 
on January 7, 1840. Mr. Williams did not arrive until 
the loth, and on taking the oath of office found himself 
a member of the committee on corporations and that on 
estates and escheats. "Yesterday," he writes his wife 
on the 14th of January, "my term as a Senator was 
fixed by the lot. It was my fortune to draw Class 
No. 2, which entitles me to a seat for two years, if in my 
sovereign pleasure I shall think proper to hold it so long. 
On last evening I was persuaded by Mr. Penrose to pay 
a flying visit with him to Carlisle for the purpose of 
attending a public meeting. I was well received, & so 
outrageously clapped & called for at the meeting that I 
was obliged to make them a short speech in return. 
* * * I have thus far enjoyed an easy time of it when 
compared with the labors of last winter, & I intend to 
persevere as far as possible in doing nothing. The Loco 
Focos are in the majority & must of course take the labor 
& responsibility upon themselves." On the 20th he again 
writes : "We of the Whig and Anti-Masonic parties now 
feel that we are relieved from the heavy responsibilities 
of the last Session & we are determined to fold our arms, 
& leave the Loco Focos to work out their own salvation 
— without our assistance. We have occasionally a little 
broil with them, but we have altogether declined par- 
ticipating to any extent in the labors of the Senate — more 
particularly as we have been thrown ofif of nearly 
all of the important committees. * * * j have only 
indulged in one eflfort at speech-making since my arrival, 
& then under a head-ache and very much against my will. 
As soon as the effusion is published, I will send you a 
copy * * *." 

Senator Williams was by no means idle, nor losing in 
any degree his reputation as an orator. "Today for 
instance," he wrote on the 24th of January, "Sunday 
though it be. I have been called on to write out a little 



130 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

speech which I delivered in the Senate yesterday, & to 
prepare a protest for the morrow — which is not yet done. 
* * * I believe I forwarded you a little effusion on 
the obligation of Bank Charters, which I have had the sat- 
isfaction of seeing republished with high commendation 
in some of the Philadelphia papers."^ He describes his 
daily routine as follows : "I generally breakfast about 9 
o'clock, & from that hour until the meeting of the Sen- 
ate at II, I am employed in consulting authorities, read- 
ing my Western papers & letters or suffering the annoy- 
ance of some bore who has a bill pending for which he 
wishes me to vote. The Senate generally continues in 
Session until 2 o'clock, when I take my dinner & perhaps 
a short nap & employ the balance of my time till supper 
in reading. After supper I visit the Capitol for the pur- 
pose of reading the Philadelphia & Washington papers, 
writing letters, sending documents to my constituents 
&c and retire about 10 o'clock to my boarding house, 
but wdiether to my room or not depends entirely on the 
company in which I may happen to fall. If it be good, 
I sit an hour or two abusing the Loco Focos & then find 
my way to my dormitory where I draw the table to my 
bed-side & read for another hour — a luxury * * *. 
Such is the synopsis cf my every day life which certainly 
presents no very great attraction to the youth who is 
ambitious to figure in our Legislative Halls. To some 
however it is full of attractions, because it is a life of 
perfect leisure & unrestrained indulgence. To me it has 
no charms. I would rather a thousand fold bury myself 
in the retirement of the country & in the bosom of my 
own family, where I might play the part of a spectator 
& look on the moving drama of political life without 
excitement or concern ; & I would withdraw at once into 
that obscurity which I love, if it were not for the con- 
fident expectation that the party to which I belong will 
come into power at the next fall election. In that event 
it is important that I should continue to occupy a promi- 
nent position. * * * I do not hesitate to say * * * 

1 From an extract in the United States Gazette it appears that he sarcastic- 
ally assured the Loco Focos that their onslaught against bank charters was a 
principle which would logically lead them to an easier way to pay the public 
debt than getting the money, namely, to just "cut loose" from it— deny the 
obligation. 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON S ELECTION I3I 

that the sooner we adjourn, the better for the Com- 
monwealth. We are not likely to do any good & the 
only result which is likely to happen for the advantage 
of the public, is a thorough & irreconcilable quarrel 
among the Loco Focos. A portion of them is at war with 
the Governor already. They are the destructives & if 
they carry out their measures they will succeed in 
destroying to a miracle. I think, however, that with our 
assistance they will be defeated. I observe that the 
Advocate puffs me occasionally through its correspond- 
ents, but that neither of the Pittsburgh papers has con- 
descended to notice my speech. It has been published 
everywhere this side of the mountains & I am inclined to 
think that there is some sinister design intended by their 
neglect. The Gazette has not even noticed that any 
such speech was ever delivered. I do not care much 
however, & shall not complain, but I think I can thward 
that design, if it really exists — This is of course cntre 
nous.'"^ 

As the previous session was dominated by the various 
questions growing out of the disturbances, so in this 
session the financial questions prevailed, and especially 
the Loco Foco purpose to destroy the charter of the 
United States Bank, of Pennsylvania, and compel all the 
banks to resume specie payments or forfeit their charters. 
Mr. Williams made himself efifective in opposition to the 
measures of the "destructives," as he called them, and 
while there were some, like Senator Penrose, who 
appeared more frequently as a floor leader, it was evident 
that the Loco Focos were more apprehensive of an unsus- 
pected thrust from Mr. Williams than from almost any 
one else. His intimates were Barclay, Penrose, Stevens 
and Pearson. An amusing incident occurred with some 
of these gentlemen which illustrates his well-known 
devotion to his wife. He had received a letter from her 
while in the Senate chamber and at once read it, "and," 
said he, telling her of it, "after dinner [I] sat down to its 
perusal again when Messrs. Penrose and Stevens called 
on me to take a walk — on the banks of the Susquehanna. 



' In his next letter he speaks of spending a Sunday afternoon with Senator 
Barclay in reading his old favorite, Milton. 



132 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

I begged them to indulge me for a moment as I was just 
reading at my leisure a letter from my wife which I had 
only been able to hurry over without regularly perusing 
& considering during the business hours of the Senate. 
I had too much company, however, to derive much satis- 
faction from that reading which they denominated in par- 
liamentary phrase 'the second reading & consideration' — 
which every resolution undergoes, before it can pass. 
The evening I spent at a card party at Mr. Elder's & on 
my return at about 11 o'clock, I retired to my room, threw 
myself in my arm chair, puHed out your epistle anew & 
was deeply engaged in its contents when who should 
enter my room again but Mr. Penrose. *Ah !' said he, 
'you have your letter on third reading, I perceive.' " 

By Washington's Birthday the effects of the cam- 
paign began to be felt, and the Harrison convention 
which met there on that day added fuel to the flame. 
The convention had a big dinner at the hotel "& a glori- 
ous affair it was," he wrote. "The leading toasts which 
were prepared by me, were received with thunders of 
applause & followed each by a martial air from a fine black 
band which was in waiting. The number of guests could 
not have been less than 400. As soon as the regular 
toasts had been read, Stevens & I who were both afraid 
that we would be called upon to speak, stole quietly out 
of the room. We had scarcely escaped until the multi- 
tude began to shout for us both & as soon as they ascer- 
tained that we were gone, they sent down a messenger 
for the purpose of bringing us back. We however 
declined returning. At 7 o'clock in the evening the Con- 
vention met again at the Court House which was crowded 
with an immense concourse of spectators. As I had been 
appointed one of the Secretaries, I was obliged to attend, 
& had scarcely got seated until the multitude began to 
call for Stevens & Williams again as vociferously as 
ever. There was no resisting this, of course, & accord- 
ingly Mr. Stevens made a few remarks, & I followed him 
with equal brevity. After hearing a number of speeches, 
which were all well received, the Convention adjourned 
with Three times three for the Hero of Tippecanoe. I 
never have witnessed such an outburst of enthusiasm. 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON S ELECTION 1 33 

I have never seen the people so thoroughly awakened. 
The changes are said to be beyond all example. The 
[less] violent of the Loco Focos are deserting their 
standard & coming over to Harrison. * * * Xhe 
Loco Focos who have the ball Lt their own feet begin to 
talk about adjourning on or before the first of April, to 
meet again in May." 

On March 4th he speaks even more definitely of the 
subject. "We are doing about as much as usual, & that 
is just nothing at all. We are however doing essential 
injury to the public by keeping the Bank question so long 
open, & the people in so painful a state of suspense in 
relation to the action of the Legislature. I do not pre- 
tend to conjecture what the majority will do at last, but I 
have my fears that they will produce such an amount 
of suffering in all classes during the present year as has 
not been witnessed in this country since 1819. Money is 
already so scarce that one dollar is worth as much now 
as two were six months ago, & if the Bill which has 
passed the Senate shall become a law, the Banks will 
wind up & their circulation entirely disappear. It will, 
however, have a good effect. It will purge the country of 
that radical & destructive spirit which has so long lorded 
it over this land & blighted as with a mildew the best 
hopes of republican liberty. The spirit of regeneration is 
already abroad — the people are awakening from their 
long sleep — thousands of the Loco Focos are flying into 
our ranks, & meetings of the people are held as frequently 
as at the outset of the Revolution. Scarcely a day passes 
that I am not invited to attend meetings here & in the 
surrounding counties. It has been my fortune to become 
so much of a favorite among the people, that they are all 
anxious to see me and hear me to such a degree as to have 
made me really afraid to speak lest I should disappoint 
them. People who come from abroad express their sur- 
prise that I should be so young.^ They expected to find 
me at least a man of forty from the reports which had 
been heard of me through the newspapers & elsewhere. 
Night before last I was sent for to attend a public meet- 
ing in town & as there was no escape I repaired to the 

* He was not yet thirty-four at this time. 



134 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

spot & addressed a most enthusiastic audience for more 
than an hour. Yesterday Mr. Penrose & I were waited 
on by committees from the lower part of the County to 
attend two pubHc meetings on Saturday. * * * 
These are some of the signs of the times, & I may add 
to them the fact that the impression is almost universal 
as well here as at Washington that Harrison will be 
elected by acclamation." 

Four days later he tells more of the campaign upon 
which he has entered. "I was down at the lower end of 
the County among the people, preaching the beauties of 
Harrisonism, & admonishing the Loco Focos to flee from 
the wrath to come. Messrs Penrose & myself went down 
on invitation to Middletown in the afternoon. * * * 
I expect I shall have to shoulder a knapsack during the 
summer campaign & turn itinerant Lecturer, as I have 
been seriously invited with some two or three others to 
take the tour of all the Northern Counties for the purpose 
of scattering light among the people * * *, if it were 
not so poor a business in the way of compensation, I 
think I could play missionary with a good deal of zest, 
but I have been under the necessity of giving four very 
good existing & one other prospective reason for declining 
the invitation." About the middle of March he was 
invited to a young men's Whig meeting in Philadelphia, 
but was unable to leave on account of the Bank Bill pend- 
ing. "The Senate has just adjourned," he writes on March 
23d, "& I have the floor for tomorrow morning on the 
Bank Bill which is the great question of the Session. I 
do not know that I shall say much on the subject, but I 
must say something. We have been engaged the whole 
of this day in the discussion & of course have not had 
time to take up the resolution of adjournment." On the 
29th he says : "We have been engaged during the last 
few days in the discussion of another Bank Bill which 
will probably pass, & with it end of this vexed question for 
many years to come. It will be a measure of relief to the 
people, if it should be successful, but it will involve a 
complete abandonment on the part of the Loco Focos of 
all their radical & destructive notions on the subject of 
the currency." "We have disposed at last of the knotty 




MAP SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION IN 1840 
Halftone of oiiglual in the Census Bureau Atlas of census of 1900 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON S ELECTION I35 

subject of the Bank," he writes on April 2d, "& in such a 
way as nobody would have anticipated two months ago. 
The loud & violent denunciations of the Loco Focos have 
resulted in smoke, & the conservative principle has com- 
pletely prevailed in a Legislature where nobody looked 
for anything but destruction. The Banks are allowed 
nearly a year to resume, & the proposition to authorize 
them in addition to issue small notes was only defeated 
in the Senate by my vote. It will however be revived, 
& I shall probably support it at the next time, for the sake 
of its political effect." He complains in a later letter that 
his pen fails to move as easily as usual : "The true secret 
consists perhaps in the circumstance that the routine of 
my public duties is such as to confine me to the dry 
details of business, & disable me from refreshing my 
imagination at those fountains of poetry & romance at 
which I was wont to drink so plentifully in my earlier 
years." 

He again tells of the progress of the campaign in a 
letter of April loth : "When I received your letter I had 
just returned from a visit in company with Mr. Penrose 
to the Borough of York, where he and I had the honor of 
addressing the most tremendous gathering of the people 
which has ever taken place in that County. The number 
was so great that scarcely one-half of them could get into 
the Court House, & the meeting continued until after 
midnight without the slightest symptom of impatience 
on the part of any individual of all the multitude by which 
we were surrounded. I occupied the stand myself during 
2 hours & a quarter of that time & the only difficulty I 
experienced was to know when to quit. 

*T had invitations from Chambersburgh & Lewis- 
town inviting me to attend meetings in those places on 
Tuesday & Wednesday, which I was of course compelled 
to decline and I am now urged to attend a great meeting 
which is to be held in Carlisle on Monday next. I have 
not yet promised positively to attend, but I see my name 
announced in their papers in company with that of Mr. 
Clay as one of the orators selected for the occasion. I 
do not think Mr. Clay will be present, but I suppose that 
I will be under the necessity of going myself, as I have by 



136 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

some means become so popular that they will take no 
excuse. Indeed, my dear, if popularity were any compen- 
sation for the sacrifice of the society of my wife & family, 
I have had enough of it. A gentleman of Chester County 
(Dr. Brinton) who had just returned from Mifflin County 
& had been present at the great meeting where he said 
I was expected, observed last evening to Mr. Penrose & 
myself that in all that region of the State we were in 
everybody's mouths — that the Loco Focos had dropped 
Stevens & Burrowes who were the great bug-bears a 
short time ago & now talked of nobody but Penrose & 
Williams. So much for popularity." He notes in a 
later letter an invitation to speak before the Phila- 
delphia Lyceum and plans of his Whig friends in 
Philadelphia to have him speak at a Harrison meeting. 
On April i6th he writes: "For the last three or four 
days I have been worked like a galley slave, the Senate 
meeting in the afternoon & sitting until a very late hour. 
Yesterday we sat from three until 11 o'clock P. M. on 
the Improvement Bill. Today we were sitting on the 
same subject from half-past eight until half past two, & 
now (4 o'clock) we are about reassembling for the same 
purpose. It has been a hard battle indeed, & in conse- 
quence of the soreness of Mr. Penrose's throat, I have 
been obliged to carry the flag & do nearly all the speak- 
ing myself. The struggle, however is not yet at an end, & 
I look for nothing less than another sitting until midnight, 
when, under our resolution, we must adjourn."^ That 
night he wrote : "We continued in session until the hour 
of 9 o'clock, when, to the astonishment of all of us our 
adjournment was arrested by a proclamation from the 
Governor, commanding us to reassemble in the morning 
for the purpose of passing a large improvement Bill 
which we had several times solemnly refused to do. 
Whether the Legislature will yield to this species of dic- 
tation, I cannot tell. For my own part I felt so indignant 
at the unwarrantable interference of the Governor, that 

' On this date also a resolution of inquiry into the financial condition of 
the State was before the Senate which attracted much attention in Philadelphia. 
The papers of that day gave little space to legislative proceedings, so that com- 
mendation of a man, even in a line, was an event. The Untied States Gazette 
of May 18th said: "Mr. Williams supported the resolution with much ability & 
spoke at length against the policy of running the State further in debt at the 
present time, with providing means to deliver her from it." 



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HAND-mi.I, OF HARRISON CAMPAICX oF 1S40, PRRPARKD BY MR. \VIIJ.IAM^ 
Halftone of original in possession of the Misses Williams, Philadelphia 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON'S ELECTION I37 

I rose in my place & denounced it in language as strong 
as it was possible for me to use. The Senate Chamber, 
galleries & all, was crowded with people, who all listened 
with the most intense interest while I pronounced the 
strongest philippic I have ever uttered. I know not 
when I have felt so much excited. My very blood boiled 
in my veins, & my nerves were strung to a degree of ten- 
sion which I have seldom experienced. The natural 
consequence was that I made a much better speech than 
I have ever before perhaps delivered in the Senate, if I 
may be permitted to be a judge in my own case." The 
result was that they m^^t, but adjourned until May 12th. 

He had scarcely returned for the next assembling of 
the Legislature when he received an invitation from his 
old literary society at Dickinson College, the Union 
Philosophical, to give the annual address before them on 
July 8th — an invitation among many others that indi- 
cated his popularity as an orator for special occasions. 
On May 20th (1840) he writes: 'T have a speech or two 
to make on the Improvement Bill, & I have been very 
industriously employed in ransacking public documents 
without number for the purpose of collecting all the 
necessary information in relation to our public works. 
If I don't succeed in convincing any body in reward for 
my labors, I will have the satisfaction at least of making 
the speech & sending it home to my constituents. I sup- 
pose however it will be too late to procure me a 
nomination for Congress. Talking about Congress, I 
have been informed since my arrival here of all the 
devices which have been employed to secure the nomi- 
nation for Irwin, & among them a representation that I 
was ineligible because I was in the Senate. It seems to 
be admitted at home that I would be the choice of the 
town, but every attempt has been made to persuade my 
friends there that it would be better to take Denny now 
for the sake of preserving peace, & me the next time. Our 
members on the other hand assure me that I am the 
undoubted choice of the country, * * *^ They had 
been informed in town that I was not a candidate & they 
wished to know whether I had a desire to run so that they 
might communicate it to their friends at home. I told 



138 THOiMAS WILLIAMS 

them that I would accept, if nominated, but that I would 
not solicit a nomination — * * * that I was willing to 
leave it to the free choice of the people." Mr. Williams 
was not, however, as has been said before, a politician, 
and he refused to play the political game for himself, 
while those on the field played it with acumen and vigor. 
In consequence, Mr, Irwin received the congressional 
nomination, while Mr. Williams pressed his senatorial 
duties and forwarded the Whig cause in various places in 
central Pennsylvania within easy reach of the capital. 
He describes one other interesting experience, in a letter 
of June 6th (1840) : "During the early part of the Ses- 
sion I happened to remark in a speech at a public meeting 
that there was no poetry about Van Buren, but that the 
whole atmosphere was redolent with music at the very 
mention of the name of Harrison. One of the Editors 
who was present seized upon the idea at once & sug- 
gested in the very next number of his paper the idea of 
compiling a volume of Harrison songs. The hint was 
adopted elsewhere & we have now volumes of that char- 
acter without number, some of which have fallen into the 
hands of our merry members who meet almost every 
day at Wilson's or here for the purpose of exercises in 
singing. They call them 'anxious meetings' & they 
generally manage to get two or three of the Loco Foco 
members to sing [them] over. And such singing! I 
do not speak in disparagement of the music, but you 
would think, if you heard them, that every peal would 
bring down the walls of the house about their ears." 

The Legislature adjourned on the 12th and on the 
14th he writes : "I have been detained * * * i^i the 
preparation of an address to the people of Pennsylvania 
on behalf of the Harrison members of the Legislature, 
which I have been urged to finish before my departure." 
He and Mr. Stevens left together for Washington, whence 
he writes on the 19th that he had heard some of the 
debates in the House on the Sub-treasury Bill. "We 
have," said he, "better speakers in the Senate of Penna. 
than any I have heard here, & I do assure [you] that I 
would not feel the least difficulty in addressing the House 
immediately on the heels of any of them." He said some 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON S ELECTION I39 

of the Van Buren people were twitting him and asking 
him to explain how so bold, aggressive and able a State 
leader as he was should not have been sent to Congress 
by his district. The matter was of no moment to Mr. 
Williams and he was yet to find his greatest usefulness in 
his place in the Senate, where many believed his services 
were needer far more than in Congress, and where he was 
to be recognized as "the most able among our public 
men."^ 

Mr. Williams was generally recognized as one of the 
very first Whig leaders in Pennsylvania, and conse- 
quently the country at large, and he entered with vigor 
into the great Harrison-Tyler campaign which swept 
Pennsylvania into the Harrison ranks and landed another 
western hero in the White House. This result also 
changed the control in the Legislature back into Whig 
and anti-Mason hands, and on the re-assembling of 
the Legislature in January, 1841, Mr. Williams was 
easily recognized as the ablest member of either Senate 
or House. His was the ability that saved itself for the 
vital struggles, the danger points, and especially those 
of far-reaching and permanent relations. 

He has left an account of his journey to Harrisburg 
that presents a painful contrast with present-day railway 
luxury. "When we arrived at Greensburgh, to which 
point we had journeyed very comfortably in the coach, 
we were thrown into an open sled scarcely large 
enough to contain our baggage, & without a single seat 
to repose our limbs upon during the passage. The night 
was extremely cold &: the prospect a fearful one indeed 
[January], but I was fortunate enough to procure a 
buffalo robe in which I invested myself for the trial. To 
keep it around me however, & to keep myself in my posi- 
tion at the same time was an operation of a nature so 
complicated as to keep me employed during the whole 
of that night and the following day. In that plight were 
we compelled to cross both the Laurel Hill & the Alle- 

1 Senator Chas. B. Penrose said of him on February 9, 1841, after referring 
to several years of the closest intimacy with Mr. Williams: "He stands high in 
this State and is now one of the most prominent as he is the most able among 
our public men." Letter to a friend in Washington. In a letter to Mr. \\ il- 
liams himself, March 17th following, he said: "As to yourself, I do not know 
how I can ever repay your kindness and friendship." 



140 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

gheny Mountain exposed to the buffettings of a North 
Wester which blew the snow drift into my face, & 
went through all my coverings as though they had been 
no heavier than brown paper. I was almost tempted on 
several occasions to give up the attempt, but I was 
anxious to be in my place & doubtful of my ability to get 
on in the next stage & I was therefore constrained to per- 
sist until I had weathered all the difficulties of the way 
& once more found myself re-established in a close sleigh 
& at liberty to take an occasional nap, if the cold would 
permit me."^ He was soon settled, with Messrs. Penrose 
and Pearson, in a private house, and deeply engaged in 
the work of the session. 

He was at once made a member of the judiciary, 
finance and library committees and chairman of that on 
estates and escheats. He was, however, usually, the 
spokesman of the judiciary committee and chairman 
after Pearson's departure.^ In regard to the library, he 
said: "All Harrisburg seems to want the office [State 
Librarian] & I can neither appear on the streets or in 
the Capitol without being surrounded by a swarm of 
applicants." On the 17th of January he writes: "We 
have been engaged during the past week in the discussion 
of two separate series of Resolutions submitted by myself 
on the important topics of the Sub-Treasury & the 
Public Lands. Of course I have been obliged to defend 
them from all attacks." The United States Gazette's 
representative, usually so laconic, was aroused to say, 
on the 26th: "I do say that the speeches of Messrs. Pen- 
rose, Reed, Williams Spackman, Pearson and others will 
not suffer in comparison with those of most Senators in 
the United States Senate on the same question."^ 

As the time of inauguration of President Harrison 
approached, Senator Williams, as one of the leaders of 
the Whigs, took a personal interest in cabinet making — 



' Letter of January 8, 1841, Williams papers. 

^ As chairman of the judiciary committee, he made, on April 9, 1841, a 
report on the Governor's power to draw money for attorney's fees that was an 
elaborate legal paper which attracted much attention. This was really a 
phase of the old political fight. It may be noted at this point that Mr. Williams 
served as Speaker of the Senate on March gth. 

* The United States Gazette of January 28, 1841. 



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THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON S ELECTION I4I 

though not for himself.^ He wrote Mr. Webster on the 
subject and contemplated a visit to Washington. On 
February 2d he writes his wife : "If there is to be any 
cabinet making there, I should Hke to have a finger in the 
pie myself, & some of our friends think it wouldn't be 
amiss for me to go & take a peep at the mysteries." So, 
about the middle of the month, Mr. Ewing and he visited 
the national capital and were invited to breakfast with 
General Harrison. "The General is not, in my opinion," 
he wrote his wife on February 14th, "very remarkable 
either for his civility or for any great elegance of man- 
ners. Indeed he seemed to me to be a little stiff 6. reserved 
towards others — scarcely extending even his hand in 
some instances, & excusing himself occasionally by the 
fatigue to which he has been exposed in that way. He 
was not so however to me — on the contrary, when my 
name was mentioned, he took me by the hand with great 

cordiality, repeating 'Mr. Williams of The County 

of Allegheny' ; I responded & he held my hand in his for 
several minutes as though I had been an old acquaint- 
ance. He was evidently familiar with my name, & I was 
afterwards informed by his old fellow soldier, Genl. 
Van Renssallaer, fully acquainted with my character & 
services during the campaign. 

"We had the mortification however of discovering 
that the cabinet had been formed before we arrived, & 
that in consequence of the conflict of opinion in this State 
the President elect had felt compelled to pass us over 
entirely in order to avoid offending any party. He spoke 
however with great feeling of the attachment of the 
people of Penna. to himself, & expressed the assurance 
that they would not be forgotten in the distribution of 
the public honors. I must say upon the whole that my 
impressions in regard to him are highly favorable. He 
was entirely open & unreserved in his communications, 
& presented such an air of amiability & honesty that I 
could not help liking him, while I entertained the fear 

^ Indeed, we have his own words, so late as 1844, to that effect: "I seek no 
office, and have never sought any either from President or people."— Speech on 
the tariff in 1844, p. zy. Pamphlet among the Williams papers, reproduced as 
Chapter XI in this book. See the fuller statement following the above, which 
is a good description of his political course, not only before this date, but for 
his whole life. 



142 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

that his good nature would be but too often imposed 
upon during his Administration. * * * j p^id a visit 
to Mr. Clay & had a very interesting conversation with 
him * * *. The Genl. will leave on Monday for Vir- 
ginia * * *. His cabinet is composed of Webster, 
Secy, of State — Ewing of Ohio, Secy, of Treasury — Bell 
of Tenn., Secy, of War — Badger of N. C. Secy, of Navy 
— Granger of N. Y., Post Master Genl. & Crittenden of 
Kentucky, Atty. Genl. — So, * * *^ you know more 
now than the newspapers." 

Referring to the Harrison convention in March, at 
Harrisburg, he writes on the 13th of that month: "Our 
convention here has resulted in the most satisfactory 
manner, Mr. Stevens & all his party having been com- 
pletely floored in the organization throughout the whole 
proceedings. His papers here and elsewhere had 
denounced the Whigs of the Senate because they opposed 
him & had pronounced the election of Delegates as a 
complete triumph over us, but when they came together 
& he himself among the rest, he found himself not merely 
defeated by an overwhelming majority, but even Mr, 
Ewing who accompanied me to Washington & bore the 
despatches there in favor of Penrose, singled out & 
elected the President of the Convention by an almost 
unanimous vote. So much therefore for the unpopularity 
of my course which has been sustained by the public 
opinion of the Commonwealth," 

Mr. Penrose resigned as Speaker that same day, to 
go to Washington to become Solicitor of the Treasury, 
and left with Mr, Williams the resignation -of his place 
as Senator to be presented at the proper time.^ On 

' Mr. Penrose writes him as follows on March 17th: "The Proclamation 
of the President convening an extra Session of Congress will be published 
tomorrow and you will have it before this reaches you. The time fixed is the 
31st of May. Mr. Webster thinks that it would be very important to secure 
from the legislatures of important States a strong expression of sentiment in 
favor of this extra Session, and for the purpose of providing revenue and so 
regulating commerce and the currency that prosperity may be ultimately restored, 
and the institutions of the country sustained. If you will immediately prepare 
and procure at an early day the passage of such resolutions it will be very ac- 
ceptable to the administration. Mr. VV suggested to have a concurrence in a 

caucus, and the importance of such resolutions then strongly impressed upon 
our friends. Let me urge you without delay to have this done. The public 
mind must be prepared for such measures as will be essential to bring back our 
lost prosperity. It will be unnecessary to name a National Bank eo nomine but 
I suggest that it would be expedient to instruct our Senators to go for the 
measures for the purpose above indicated. It is regarded here too as of much 
importance that the subtreasury resolutions which now slumber so discreditably 



THE BUCK-SHOT WAR AND HARRISON's ELECTION I43 

April 2d (1841) Mr. Penrose wrote Williams as follows: 
''We are now in the deepest anxiety on account of the 
indisposition of the President who is laboring under a 
severe indisposition with which he was attacked on last 
Saturday. This morning he was so decidedly better 
that I was then in hopes that all danger had passed, but 
about midday he was not so well and this afternoon 
6 o'clock P. M. I am informed in answer to a note of 
enquiry which I just now sent to the White House 
that although better than he was last evening he is not 
so well as he was this morning. I have great fears for 
the result. It is my earnest prayer that a merciful Prov- 
idence will spare him for his country. The welfare of the 
Nation very much depends on his life. We are however 
in His hands and while we are daily taught how frail 
and vain are all our temporal hopes we must humble 
ourselves to a patient dependence on His will. 

* * * * =lc * 

"At one time I had strong hopes that we should have 
you here. I pressed your appointment as Comptroller 
when I found that this office was to go to Pennsylvania 
and Air. Ewing seemed disposed to confer it upon you. 
Shortly after I discovered that Mr. Forward had 
expressed a willingness to accept the office and it has 
been tendered to him. 

"I look with great interest to your action at Harris- 
burgh. I trust you may be enabled so to act that you 
may bring our great State out of the mighty difficulties 
which surround you. If you could disencumber her from 
party influence how readily might this be effected. "^ 

On April 5th the President's death was officially 
announced to the Legislature as having taken place the 
day before and the two Houses at once appointed con- 
ference committees to take appropriate action. These 
reported on the following day, among other things, 
"that an eulogy on the character and public services of 
William Henry Harrison be pronounced on Saturday the 
17th inst. at noon, in the Hall of the House of Represent- 
atives, by Thomas Williams of the Senate," and upon 

to our friends in the house should be passed as soon as possible. Can't vou 
rouse our friends there?" 

' Williams papers. 



144 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

the day designated all public officers and the Senate met 
in the Lower House and listened to the following notable 
oration on the first of the American Presidents to die 
while in office.^ 

* This oration constitutes the next chapter. 

A letter from Mr. Penrose, dated at Washington, April ii, i84i,says, among 
other things: "The day after the inauguration the President entered a book 
store on Pennsylvania avenue and purchased a bible and prayer-book. He 
remarked that he had been surprised to find that there was no bible at the 
President's house, that it ought to constitute a part of the furniture of the 
house. It was his intention, he said, to have the best copy he could procure 
purchased and paid for out of the next congressional appropriation for furni- 
ture for the President's house and that he should write in it 'To the 
President of the United States from the people.' " Also: "the General said 
during his last illness that he regretted that he had not before become a 
communicating member of the church; it was his intention to have done so 
as he informed the pastor of the episcopal church with which he intended to 
connect himself on the Sabbath which succeeded his death. He had been 
deterred from taking this step for [four?] years by the apprehension that his 
example might induce others to do so from unworthy motives, for political 
effect which he supposed would be attributed to him." 



CHAPTER X 

His Notable Eulogy on President William Henry 

Harrison Before the Legislature of 

Pennsylvania on April 17, 1841^ 

Senators and Representatives : 

It is no common task which your partiality has assigned 
me. It is no common event which has assembled us together. 
To me belongs not now the grateful theme which stirs the 
public pulse on some high festival commemorative of the glori- 
ous past. No joyous ceremonial — no inaugural fete is this, 
which has this day gathered the representative majesty of the 
people of Pennsylvania within this hall. The emblems of woe 
are around us; a nation is clad in the habiliments of mourning, 
and the voice of wailing and lamentation is heard upon every 
breeze. The head of this great Republic, the elect of this mighty 
people, the idol of a nation's hopes, called so recently from his 
retirement to preside over the destinies of this glorious sister- 
hood of States — the soldier, the statesman, the sage, the patriot 
Harrison is no more ! Yes ! the illustrious man, who but yes- 
terday, on the steps of the Federal Capitol, under the shadow of 
our national banner, and in the presence of the assembled 
thousands who were congregated together from the remotest 
extremities of this broad land, to witness the sublime spectacle, 
pronounced the solemn vow of fealty to the Constitution, and 
invoked the Ruler of the Universe to attest the sincerity of 
the pledge which he then gave, has already laid down the high 
commission with which he was invested, and with it all the 
symbols of command, and yielding to the summons of Omnipo- 
tence with the same cheerful submission with which he has ever 
obeyed the calls of duty here, has been translated from the 
scenes of his responsibilities on earth, to the scene of a higher 
responsibility in heaven. The silver cord has been loosed; the 
tongue which was then eloquent of truth is now mute forever, 
even while its last echoes are yet lingering upon the ear; the 
eye which then kindled with the inspirations of an exalted patriot- 

1 From a copy of the Pittsburgh reprint, by W. S. Haven. It was pub- 
lished by the Legislature and appears in the Appendix to the Senate Journal 
of 1841. Copies among the Williams papers. 



146 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

ism, is already sealed in eternal sleep; and the heart which then 
throbbed with the deepest anxiety for a nation's welfare is 
forever at rest. The pageantry and the procession — the nodding 
plume — the gallant array — the braying of the trumpet, and the 
trampling of the horse, have passed away; the high hope, the 
animated pulse is gone; the curtain of death has descended 
over the spirit-stirring scene; the idol of that day — "the cyno- 
sure of all eyes" — "the observed of all observers" — is already 
gathered to his fathers; and those who swelled his triumphal 
cavalcade, as it moved in the direction of the capitol, have, in 
one short month, been again summoned to follow in silence and 
sadness, and with downcast eyes, the sable hearse which con- 
veyed his mortal remains to "the house appointed for all the 
living." What a change is here ! How sudden, how abrupt the 
transition from sunlight to gloom ! Who is insensible to its 
influence? Who hath not realized, in this melancholy reverse, 
the nothingness of all human pomp — the stern and startling 
admonition which it conveys? Who hath not felt the warm 
current of life turned back-ward to its source, by the earthquake 
shock which has suspended the general pulse of the nation, and 
hushed even the tempest of party into repose? Who hath not 
been subdued by the common calamity which has made us feel 
that we are men, and has at the same time reminded us that 
we are the children of a common country, into a momentary 
forgetfulness that he had ever been a party-man? Who does 
not feel that such a loss, at such a time, and under such circum- 
stances, is indeed a national bereavement ? Who does not mourn 
over it as a national calamity? The venerable man whose loss 
we so deeply deplore, though nominated by a party, became by 
the choice of the nation, and under the forms of our Constitu- 
tion, the President of the people. It is not too much to say of 
him, that he possessed the confidence of that people in a higher 
degree perhaps than any individual living. It is equally true, 
that to his long experience, his tried integrity, and his exalted 
patriotism, they looked for deliverance from the many embar- 
rassments which now surround them. They had the assurance 
at least in his past life, of inflexible honesty and upright inten- 
tion. Whether his administration of the affairs of this great 
nation would have realized in all respects the high wrought 
expectations of those who had garnered up their hopes in him, 
is not now the question. It is enough that the people trusted 
him. The loss of such a man in any great national extremity, 
and before he has enjoyed the opportunity of testing his adapta- 
tion to the wishes and wants of those who have conferred upon 
him their highest honors, is always a public calamity. 




PRESIDENT WILLIAM HEXRY HARRISON 

Halftone of an engraving by John Sartain, in 1841, in the Ridgway Library, 

Philadelphia 



EULOGY ON PRESIDENT HARRISON I47 

But it is not merely as the head of this great nation that we 
are assembled to pay our solemn tribute of affection to the 
memory of the distinguished dead. He has other, and earlier, 
and perhaps higher titles to our regard. The last and greatest 
of your gifts, was not merely a payment in advance for services 
thereafter to be rendered. It was richly earned, before it was 
bestowed. It was but the tardy acknowledgment of a long 
arrears of toils and sacrifices, the crowning reward of a pro- 
tracted and laborious life, expended in the service of the country, 
in the protection of its infant settlements, and in the advance- 
ment not more of its happiness than its renown. The name of 
Harrison has long adorned the brightest pages of our country's 
history, and those who live beyond the mountains will bear me 
witness when I say, that there at least, for more than five and 
twenty years, it has equally been embalmed in story, and immor- 
talized in song. The individual who addresses you is old enough 
to remember the time when that name was as familiar to the ear 
of childhood as a nursery tale, for often has he heard the 
western mother hush her infant with the ballad of the Prophet's 
fall, or tell her listening boys that their father or their brethren 
were out under the gallant Harrison on the perilous frontier. 
Many years have elapsed since it was publicly affirmed of him 
by one who has enjoyed a large share of the popular honors — 
a gallant soldier himself, who bears upon his body, in numerous 
scars, the honorable and enduring testimonials of his own devo- 
tion to the country — that "the history of the West was his 
history." And what a history is that ! Surely no pen of ancient 
chronicle has ever told, no fiction of the poet ever framed a tale, 
which will compare in interest with that which records the early 
struggles of the founders and defenders of that mighty empire, 
which has sprung up like enchantment upon our western border, 
and is still stretching its ample wing, and pouring its living tides 
in the direction of the setting sun. To have been associated with 
those struggles so intimately as to have become a part and parcel 
of such a history, were distinction enough to have secured to 
any man a deathless name. No conquerer ever reposed in a 
prouder mausoleum than this ; no loftier monument has ever 
risen, either at the bidding of ambition, or under the affectionate 
hands of public gratitude, to the founder of a dynasty, or the 
defender of a throne. The pyramids of the Egyptian kings 
themselves shall moulder into dust, before the early records of 
that fair and happy realm, or the names of those gallant spirits 
who led their forefathers through the wilderness, shall perish 
from the recollection of that mighty people who are now diffus- 
ing themselves in myriads over its surface, and are destined one 



148 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

day to be multitudinous as the stars of heaven. The history of 
that wondrous realm is now t"he history of the broadest and 
fairest portion of our Union. And so, too, is the whole life of its 
defender, Harrison. The last few years have given to its tales 
of stirring incident and startling peril, an interest of a still 
broader and more diffusive character, and twined its thrilling 
and romantic narrative of border achievement more intimately 
than ever with the lasting glories of our common land. But 
they have only brought into bolder relief the rich memorials of 
a most eventful life, which lie scattered in bountiful profusion 
through many a page of that narrative. A large portion of that 
life has been already written, and the Muse of History now 
stands ready to fling her rainbow tints over its illuminated close. 
She has already told how the warrior and poet has lived: she 
will now tell how the patriot could die. I will not encroach on 
her province. Mine is the humbler task of delineating, with a 
hurried hand, the mere outline of a long and eventful career, 
and of pointing out a few of those elevations, swelling most 
boldly above the level of ordinary life, on whose summits the 
sunlight of renown will linger, long after the shadows of many 
generations shall have settled upon the plain. Bear with me, 
then, while I endeavor to perform this task, and suffer me also 
to gather, as we proceed, from the richly enamelled field which 
lies in shade, an occasional offering for the fresh grave of the 
departed chief. 

Half a century ago, a stripling boy of the tender age of 
eighteen years arrived in the town where we are now assembled, 
bearing the commission of an Ensign in the armies of the 
United States, and on his way to join the gallant but ill-fated 
St. Clair on the North-western frontier. There are those linger- 
ing amongst us yet, who remember the fragile frame, but manly 
port of that chivalrous boy, who, nursed in the lap of affluence 
and elegant refinement, had disdained the inglorious remon- 
strances of his elders, and forsaking friends, and family, and 
all the luxurious ease and indolence of home, had taken upon 
himself the soldier's vow, and dedicated his life to the dangerous 
service on which he was now about to enter. That boy was no 
other than William Henry Harrison, the subject of the 
present sketch, the future Commander of our armies, and the 
future President of the United States. The scion of a noble 
stock, pointing for his pedigree to the imperishable cluster of 
our independence — a broader and a prouder patent than the 
hand of a crowned monarch ever gave — and numbering amongst 
his kindred many of the most distinguished men of the Revolu- 
tion, but without any other patrimony than his own good sword. 



EULOGY ON PRESIDENT HARRISON I49 

a finished education, and an immortal name, he had just aban- 
doned the study of a peaceful profession, for which he had 
been carefully prepared, and was now on his way to seek his 
fortune in the western wilderness. The ardor and determination 
which animated the boy may be inferred from an anecdote 
which is related of him by one of his earliest biographers. He 
had just been dispatched by his father to the city of Philadelphia, 
for the purpose of pursuing his studies under the direction of 
the best medical professors of the day, and had been placed by 
him under the immediate guardianship of the celebrated Robert 
Morris. The death of that parent, which occurred whilst he 
was on his journey, and was soon after followed by the informa- 
tion that his estate had been greatly dilapidated by his services 
and sacrifices in the war of the Revolution, left him almost 
entirely without resource. But he was not without friends. The 
son of Benjamin Harrison could not want a friend where the 
compatriots of his father were around him. A lucrative office 
in the Department of State was tendered to him by his kinsman 
Edmund Randoph, then acting Secretary, which he declined. 
His high spirit would not stoop to eat the bread of dependence; 
his ambition was awakened, and his thoughts were now turned 
in another direction. He repaired at once to the great chief 
who had been the friend of his father, and was now at the 
head of the government, and solicited a commission in the 
North-western army. General Washington hesitated, referred 
to his extreme youth, and drew an animated picture of the hard- 
ships and dangers of the service which he was seeking. The 
ardor of the boy was not to be repressed; the commission was 
promised. The fact was, however, immediately communicated 
by Washington himself, to Robert Morris, and no sooner known 
to the latter, than a messenger was dispatched at once in pursuit 
of his wayward ward, with an intimation that he desired to see 
him. Young Harrison suspecting the object, flew immediately 
to the War Office, took out his commission, subscribed the 
necessary oaths, and then appeared before his guardian, when 
he was assured that constraint and remonstrance would be alike 
unavailing. He was now the soldier of the Republic, and it 
was with that commission in his pocket that he had set out to 
join the North-western army. 

The hazards of that enterprise can scarcely be appreciated at 
the present day. At the period of which I speak, the whole of 
that vast region west of the Ohio, which now composes the 
great states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Michigan, 
and comprises within its limits a population equal to that of 
the old thirteen during the war of the Revolution, was nothing 



150 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

but one vast, unbroken, howling wilderness, tenanted only by- 
wild beasts or still wilder men, and sleeping in the universal 
silence which had brooded over it since the creation. From 
Pittsburgh west, far, far beyond the mountain cradle of "the 
father of waters" — beyond even the sources of Missouri's mighty 
flood — throughout an untravelled and almost illimitable wild, 
over which scarce anything living, save the wing of the adven- 
turous eagle, had ever swept — all was original, undisturbed, 
magnificent wilderness — the domain of nature — the dwelling 
place of the savage. The beautiful Ohio, whose bosom is now 
freighted with the commerce of thirteen states, whose waters 
are now plowed by a thousand animated keels instinct with 
elemental life, and whose margin is now dotted with hamlets 
and towns and cities, then travelled onward in its long and 
silent journey, gathering the redundant tribute of its thousand 
rills, with no sound, no life to disturb its glassy repose, save the 
plash of the occasional canoe which darted across its surface, 
the ripple of the solitary pirogue which dropped lazily down its 
current — or mayhap the report of the savage rifle from some 
sheltered covert on its banks, which awoke its unaccustomed 
echoes, startled the wild fowl screaming from its bosom, and 
told the fate of some hapless adventurer, who had embarked his 
fortunes on its smooth but treacherous tide. The whole frontier 
extending eastward even into our own state, was then the 
theatre of border war. Already one gallant army had perished 
in the vain attempt to hunt the ruthless red man back into his 
forest haunts. The savage tribes, animated by their partial 
success, maddened by the encroachments of the white man, 
and stimulated into unusual ferocity by the largesses of Great 
Britain, were unloosed from their forests, and pouring like 
wolves upon the settlements, while the thirsty tomahawk and 
the unsparing scalping knife were drinking deeply of the blood 
of our people. The whole frontier was in flames. At the dead 
hour of midnight the repose of the settler was broken by the 
appalling war-whoop, and if he ventured from home during the 
day. it was most probably to find on his return, that his dwelling 
was in ashes, and his hearth-stone red with the blood of his 
children. 

It was under such circumstances that William Henry 
Harrison first volunteered his life in defense of the country. 
It was on such a field, where so few laurels were to be gathered 
— it was on such a service, from which the stoutest soldier 
might well have shrunk, that this gallant boy had just adven- 
tured. A second army had been dispatched to chastise the 
insolence of the savage, under General St. Clair, and it was 



EULOGY ON PRESIDENT HARRISON I5I 

for the purpose of enrolling himself under the banners of that 
commander, that he was now hastening with all the ardor of 
a bridegroom in the direction of the Ohio. It was not, however, 
his fortune to reach the place of his destination until a few days 
after the disastrous defeat which that officer had sustained near 
the Miami Villages. Instead, therefore, of a well appointed 
army, full of hope, and panting for the conflict, he was doomed 
to meet the shattered, bleeding and retreating remnant of a 
gallant host, which had just left the bones of many a brave 
companion to bleach unburied in the deep solitudes of the 
pathless wilderness. The destruction of this ill-fated band had 
cast a deeper shadow than ever over the fortunes of the West. 
For a young and ardent soldier, the prospect was indeed gloomy 
beyond description. The maintenance and defense of a long 
line of posts had devolved upon the slender remains of this 
broken army. Again did the remonstrances of his friends 
assail the youthful Harrison. Again was he reminded of the 
toils and perils to which he was exposed, and again was he 
urged, in the strong language of entreaty as well as expostula- 
tion, to abandon a service to which his slender frame and 
delicate constitution were supposed to be unequal. Nothing 
daunted, however, by the appalling picture which was presented 
to him, and feeling that he had pledged his honor as well as his 
life, to abide the issue, he turned a deaf ear alike to the sug- 
gestions of indolence, and the importunities of friendship, and 
being soon after detailed upon a difficult and dangerous service, 
he acquitted himself with so much satisfaction, as to receive 
the public thanks of his commander. In the year following he 
was promoted to the rank of a Lieutenant. 

In the meantime, however, the war had assumed so formid- 
able an aspect, that it became necessary to take more decided 
and vigorous measures for its suppression. A new army was 
ordered to be raised, and the discriminating eye of General 
Washington at once singled out a distinguished officer of the 
Revolution — the hero of Stony Point — the intrepid and impetu- 
ous Wayne — as the man best fitted to arrest the encroachments 
of the savage, and to carry the terror of our arms into his 
forest fastnesses. Nor was the sagacity of the President dis- 
appointed in the result. Dearly, indeed, did he avenge the 
disasters of Harmar and St. Clair — dearly, indeed, did he pay 
back the debt of blood which had been incurred on the frontier 
— so dearly, that for many a long year the very name of Mad 
Anthony— as he was familiarly styled — was a terror throughout 
all the tribes of the North-west. But he had an army to organize, 
as well as to discipline. Most of the experienced officers who 



152 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

served under St. Clair had either fallen in battle, or surren- 
dered their commissions ; and no sooner had his eagle eye fallen 
upon our young subaltern, who joined him at Fort Washington 
(now Cincinnati), in the month of June, 1793, than recognizing 
in him a spirit kindred to his own, he grappled him to his side, 
and raised him, at the age of twenty, to the honorable rank of 
his second Aid. In such a school he could not long be inactive. 
The army soon after marched in the direction of Greenville, 
where they were obliged to go into winter quarters, and on the 
opening of the campaign in the next following year, they roused 
the savage from his lair, and drove him before them until they 
brought him to bay, on the 20th day of August, near the rapids 
of the Miami. The contest was a fearful one, but the star of 
Mad Anthony was in the ascendant, and victory perched, as 
of old, upon his successful banner. The confederate tribes of 
Indians, reinforced by their Canadian allies, and more than 
doubling in number the little band of the American commander, 
reeled before the shock of his invincible battalions, and were 
driven, with prodigious slaughter, imder the very guns of a 
British fort, which had been recently erected at that point. The 
gallantry and good conduct of Lieutenant Harrison, who had 
been intrusted with the difficult and dangerous task of forming 
the left wing of the American forces in that action, were made 
the subject of the warmest commendation in the dispatches of 
his commander ; and it is no small evidence of merit of the very 
highest order, that the first virgin wreath which adorned his 
youthful brow, was twined around it by the hands of a disci- 
plinarian so stern and rigid as the unbiased and uncompromis- 
ing Wayne. The individual who now addresses you, has heard 
a portion of the details of that eventful day, from one who 
fell upon that bloody field, pierced through the lungs by a 
musket ball, and still miraculously survived to bear his personal 
testimony to the unshrinking valor of his young comrade and 
companion in arms. He saw his lofty plume dancing along the 
front of the battle — he witnessed him hurrying from rank to 
rank, cheering the faint and rallying those who wavered, and he 
heard the clear tones of his clarion voice ringing above the 
din of the battle, as he communicated in every direction the 
orders of his commander. 

The victory of the Maumee humbled the savage tribes, 
secured the surrender of the frontier posts, and terminated 
the war in the treaty of Greenville. Our young adventurer, 
then advanced to the rank of Captain, was left by General 
Wayne in the command of Fort Washington, where he remained 
until 1797, when finding that the country no longer required his 



EULOGY ON PRESIDENT HARRISON 1 53 

services in the capacity of a soldier, he resigned his commission 
in the army, and was immediately thereafter appointed Sec- 
retary, and ex-officio Lieutenant Governor, of the North-west 
Territory. 

He was not, however, permitted to remain long in that 
position. The admission of that territory to a representation 
on the floor of Congress, was the signal for his translation to 
a different sphere. His extraordinary merits, and great per- 
sonal popularity, indicated him at once to the people of that 
region as the individual who, above all others, was best 
qualified to represent their vast and varied interests, and in 
obedience to the general voice, he took his seat in the year 
1799, as their first representative delegate in the councils of 
the nation. 

The period of his civil service was not less distinguished or 
successful than his career as a military man. He had already 
rendered the most important aid in conquering the fair realm, 
with whose interests he was now intrusted, from its native 
lord; he was now about to perfect his title to the gratitude of 
the West, by conquering it once more from the wild dominion of 
nature herself, by opening up a highway for the emigrant, and 
peopling its vast but unproductive solitudes with a great family 
of freemen. The policy of the general government in regard 
to the public lands had been of such a character as to retard 
their settlement and growth, by dividing them into tracts of 
three or four thousand acres only, and thus placing them beyond 
the reach of the poor but meritorious settlers. The first public 
act of their new representative was the introduction of a bill 
to effect a radical change of that system, by reducing the amount 
to three hundred and twenty acres. The zeal and ability and 
eloquence of its advocate secured its passage, and the principle 
has been still further extended under subsequent administra- 
tions. Its results are before us in the teeming population and 
giant power of the yet infant West. Other conquerors have 
made a desert where they found a Paradise, and erected their 
sceptres over unpeopled realms, where the very verdure had 
fled from the blasted and bloody heath before the sirocco 
breath of war. It was the boast of Attila, that no blade of 
grass ever grew beneath the fiery hoof of his war-horse. It is 
the glory of Harrison, that his far-reaching sagacity has "made 
the solitary places glad," unfurled the standard of civilization 
in the wilderness, and founded an empire where he found a 
solitude. If his career had ended here, he would have been 
richly entitled to the eternal gratitude of the West. He has 
lived long enough to feel that it remembered the hand which 



154 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

had nursed it into strength, and long enough to reign with 
undivided sway over the hearts of its people. 

But his services did not end here. The division of the 
immense district which he represented, and the erection of the 
new territory of Indiana, furnished a fresh occasion for the 
exhibition of that confidence which had placed him already in 
the councils of the nation. The choice of the Executive, con- 
curring with the wishes of the people, again invested him with 
the high functions of Territorial Governor. The region over 
which he was now called to preside, extending as it did at one 
time, from the straits of Mackinaw to the gulf of Mexico — 
from the frozen lakes of the North to the orange groves of 
Louisiana — comprised a province such as no Roman praetor, 
no lieutenant of the Caesars, had ever governed in the proudest 
days of the Roman empire. The powers intrusted to his hands 
were almost equally unlimited. The highest attribute of sov- 
ereignty, the enactment of laws — the appointment of all officers 
and magistrates, military as well as civil — the supreme command 
of the militia — the distribution of his extended jurisdiction 
into counties and townships — and the general superintendence 
of the affairs of the Indian tribes — who were restless and 
impatient of restraint, were but a few of the imperial preroga- 
tives which were conferred on him. To all these vast powers 
were added by Mr. Jefferson the authority of a General Com- 
missioner to treat with the Indian tribes, under which he nego- 
tiated not less than thirteen important treaties, and effected the 
surrender of more than sixty millions of acres of land by its 
savage proprietors. The manner in which he executed this high 
trust, larger, in many respects, than any which had ever been 
delegated to any one man in this country, and therefore 
extremely susceptible of abuse, may be inferred from the fact, 
that the commission which he professed to hold only under 
the will of the people, was renewed from time to time at their 
earnest and unanimous request, by Mr. Jefferson and Mr. 
Madison, until it was merged at last in the command of the 
North-western army. 

But he wielded no idle sceptre. He was the military as 
well as civil head of the territory over which he presided, and 
he had a country to defend as well as to govern. The vast 
region which had been committed to his charge was in a great 
measure a wilderness, with here and there only a white inhabit- 
ant, but swarming with the remnants of many a hostile tribe, 
smarting under the recollection of past conflicts, and ever ready 
to wreak their implacable and undying hate upon the white 
man, by carrrying devastation and dismay into the settlements. 



EULOGY ON PRESIDENT HARRISON 1 55 

Nor was the border warrior less prompt in repairing such 
injuries, whenever the opportunity occurred to him. The causes 
of irritation were frequent; the ancient and irrepressible feud 
between the red and the white man flashed up into hostilities 
at every accidental collision, and if the incendiary torch 
descended upon his home, the blood of the savage smoked as an 
expiatory offering over the embers of the white man's dwelling. 
To keep down these feuds, and to afford full protection to the 
settler, while he practiced entire forbearance and uniform 
conciliation toward the savage, was the delicate and difficult 
task which was assigned to him by the general government. 
He succeeded for a long time in holding the balance between 
them, and preserving the peace of the settlements, without 
forfeiting the confidence of either, and while he secured the 
affections of the pioneer, his kindness and impartiality pro- 
pitiated the good will, while his firmness and courage overawed 
the turbulence, and repressed the predatory habits of the Indian. 

But the long smothered fire, industriously fed by the money 
and the emissaries of Great Britain, at length flamed out into 
an open rupture. The prospect of an impending outbreak with 
that country redoubled the activity of its agents, and the dark 
and portentous cloud of savage warfare began to gather and 
blacken on the western horizon. The gigantic plan of a con- 
federation of all the North-western tribes for the purpose of 
re-conquering the territory which they had lost, was set on foot 
by a leader of great enterprise and sagacity, and of uncom- 
mon valor, in the person of the famous Shawnee chief — the 
renowned Tecumthe. With him was associated a brother of 
less ability, but of no less distinction, and of perhaps more 
commanding influence, who was generally designated by the 
title of the Prophet, because he was so esteemed throughout all 
the tribes. Under the auspices of these two men, the scattered 
elements of discontent and mischief were gathered together at 
a place of common rendezvous on the Wabash, near the mouth 
of the Tippecanoe, and known afterwards by the name of the 
Prophet's town. 

But the wary eye of the governor was upon them, and at 
the first symptom of threatened disturbance, arising out of the 
treaty which he had negotiated at Fort Wayne — with several of 
the tribes, in the absence of Tecumthe himself, he dispatched a 
messenger to invite him to a conference. The chieftain came, 
not unattended, as was agreed, but with a formidable escort 
of no less than four hundred armed warriors in his train. The 
meaning of such an attendance could not be mistaken. But the 
governor was not to be intimidated. He met the savage chief. 



156 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

and listened with calmness to his complaint. No sooner, how- 
ever, had he replied, than Tecumthe, for all answer, fiercely 
ejaculated, "It is false"; and on the instant, as though by some 
preconcerted signal, his followers started to their feet and 
brandished their war-clubs, while he continued to address them 
in their own language, with great rapidity of enunciation and 
equal violence of gesture. The crisis was a fearful one, but the 
self-possession and intrepidity of the governor were fully equal 
to the occasion. Though unattended but by a handful of guards, 
he rose with dignity from his seat — coolly drew his sword — 
rebuked the perfidy of the Indian — and ordered him to with- 
draw at once from the settlements. The conference was broken 
up in confusion, and the savages, overawed by the gallant bear- 
ing and manly determination of the governor, withdrew without 
further disturbance. On the following morning, Tecumthe 
apologized for the affront, and solicited a renewal of the con- 
ference, which was granted. It took place, but without any 
favorable result, and a few days after its termination, the 
governor, still anxious to conciliate the powerful chief, repaired 
in person to his camp, attended only by a single interpreter. 
The savage was surprised. He could not but respect the courage 
of his enemy, and he received him with kindness and courtesy, 
though without receding from the determination which he had 
previously announced, of disregarding the treaty, and maintain- 
ing his ancient boundary. The story sheds so strong a light 
upon the character of Harrison, that I have felt it to be my 
duty to give it a place in the present narrative. 

In the meantime, however, the breath of the coming tem- 
pest, which had been so long gathering on the horizon, began to 
agitate the leaves of the forest, and the low muttering of the 
distant thunder to be heard in the settlements. The war-belt 
— the fiery cross of the red man — was passing through the 
wilderness, and in obedience to the summons, the warriors of 
the wilds were thronging to the standard of the Shawnee 
chiefs. The indications were now so apparent of a great pre- 
concerted movement, and a general rising among the tribes, 
that the governor of Indiana, whose sagacity on such occasions 
was never at fault, admonished of the necessity of taking early 
and vigorous measures for the suppression of the evil, was 
induced to seek, and obtained permission from the general 
government, to break up the encampment on the Wabash, which 
was the general rallying point of the disaffected, and where it 
was understood that more than a thousand warriors were 
already collected, and under arms. With a force of about 
nine hundred men, composed of the militia of his territory, a 



EULOGY ON PRESIDENT HARRISON 1 57 

detachment of regular troops, and a small but gallant band of 
Kentucky volunteers, but with his hands tied by a positive 
instruction to avoid hostilities, except in the last resort, he 
accordingly commenced his march on the 20th of October, 181 1. 
His commission was exceedingly delicate and difficult. His 
mission was peace; his only privilege, in the face of a savage 
enemy who might select his own time and place for an attack, 
was the humble privilege of self-defense, whenever he might 
be assailed. When he arrived within a few miles of the 
Prophet's town, he sent in a flag of truce, in pursuance of his 
instructions, for the purpose of negotiation for a treaty of 
peace. The answer of the Prophet was friendly. He dis- 
claimed all hostile intention, and pledged himself to meet his 
adversary in a council on the following day. But Governor 
Harrison understood the Indian character too well to be thrown 
off his guard by protestations such as these. He accordingly 
halted, and placed his camp in a posture of defense. 

The night of the 6th of November was dark and cloudy. 
On that memorable night, a gallant little band might have been 
seen stretched in fitful and uneasy slumber, by their watch-fires 
near the Wabash, under the shadow of the ancient but now 
leafless oaks, which reared their giant heads around. Here, in 
the order of battle, and with his arms and accoutrements by his 
side, lay the wearied foot-soldier, with his head pillowed upon 
his knap-sack; there, the border knight, endued in all the 
panoply of war, reclined at the feet of his faithful steed; and 
yonder, tethered to the door-post of an humble tent, pawed the 
impatient charger of the chief himself. The deep solitude of 
the forest, which was so lately startled by the armed array, 
had again subsided into repose. No sound disturbed the quiet, 
save the sighing of the autumnal wind, as it swept through 
the arms of the aged oaks which canopied their heads, or the 
occasional challenge of the sentinel, as he measured his mid- 
night rounds. On a sudden, about the hour of four in the 
morning, and just when the tap of the morning drum was about 
to arouse the sleepers from their repose, a single shot was 
heard, and on the instant the yell of a thousand savages rent 
the quiet air, and the flash of a thousand rifles lighted up the 
deep gloom of the primeval forest. The onset was no less 
terrible than sudden. The savages were in their midst, but 
every soldier was in his place, and the assailant and assailed 
were soon locked in the embrace of death. In the twinkling of 
an eye, the watchful governor, who had been sitting by his tent- 
fire conversing with his aids, and waiting the approach of dawn, 
was on horseback, and at the point of danger, and throughout 



158 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

the whole of that action was he seen, himself the most exposed 
of all, galloping- from point to point, wherever the contest 
waxed fiercest, fortifying the positions where the fire was most 
destructive, and animating his troops by his voice as well as 
by his example. And nobly was he seconded by his gallant 
men. For two long hours did the contest rage, for the most part 
hand in hand, throughout the gloom, until the dawn of the 
morning lighted up that field of blood, and enabled the American 
commander, by one simultaneous charge along his whole line, 
to put the enemy to flight. 

The history of our country has furnished the example of 
few fields which have been as stoutly contested as this, and it 
has been remarked by those who were familiar with the practice 
of Indian warfare, that on no other occasion has the savage 
been known to exhibit the same degree of determined, and 
desperate, and persevering valor. The slaughter on both sides 
was considerable. Many of the bravest of our officers fell. That 
General Harrison himself should have escaped, is almost a 
miracle. He was slightly wounded by a ball which passed 
through the rim of his hat, but he bore, like Washington, a 
charmed life, because, like him, he was destined for higher 
purposes. 

The result of this action was decisive. The confederacy of 
the hostile tribes was dissolved by the disasters of this day, and 
peace and quiet were once more restored to the alarmed frontier. 
The invaluable services of Governor Harrison were recognized 
in the most flattering terms by President Madison, in his next 
annual message to Congress, and his skill and heroism were 
made the theme of special panegyric by the legislatures of 
Kentucky and Indiana, by whom he was publicly thanked in 
the names of their respective constituents. 

The tranquility which followed was, however, of short dura- 
tion. In less than one year after the battle of Tippecanoe, the 
long threatened war with Great Britain took place. The tribes 
of the North-west were again in arms, straining like greyhounds 
in the slips, and waiting but the signal of their civilized 
employers, to carry havoc and devastation once more into their 
settlements. The whole frontier was almost entirely defense- 
less. With the fall of Detroit, which was soon after invested by 
the British, no barrier would be left to stem the torrent of 
barbarian war, except the stout hearts and strong arms of the 
inhabitants. They were, however, ready, as they have ever been, 
for the emergency. All they desired was a leader of approved 
courage and undoubted skill, and every eye was turned at once 
upon the successful soldier, who had so recently humbled the 



EULOGY ON PRESIDENT HARRISON 1 59 

pride, and broken the power of the Indian upon the Wabash. 
The chivalry of Kentucky was first upon its feet. Upward of 
five thousand of her citizens were already in arms, and the 
governor of that state invited him to a conference in relation 
to the disposal of the troops which she was about raising for the 
defense of the country. He repaired to Frankfort, in pursuance 
of the invitation, and was received there with more than a 
soldier's welcome. But higher honors were yet in reserve for 
him. The volunteers of Kentucky were under the command of 
her ablest citizens. Two thousand of them were ordered at 
once for the relief of Detroit ; but no sooner was their destina- 
tion announced, than they, with one consent, declared their 
earnest desire to be placed under the command of Harrison. 
The wishes of the people corresponded with the sentiments of 
the soldiery. But the laws of Kentucky forbade the appointment 
of any other than one of her own citizens to so exalted a trust. 
In this dilemma, the Executive consulted with the most distin- 
guished men of the state, and by their unanimous advice he 
disregarded the prohibition, and conferred upon Governor Har- 
rison the brevet rank of a Major General in the Kentucky 
militia, with express authority to take the command of her troops 
who were destined for the frontier. 

In the very midst of all these preparations, the intelligence 
of the dastardly surrender of Hull, and the fall of Detroit, 
descended like a thunderbolt upon the people of the West, and 
spread consternation and dismay throughout all their borders. 
But the reappearance of the heroic governor of Indiana, at 
the head of the Kentucky levies, restored the public confidence 
at once. The intelligence of his appointment to the chief com- 
mand thrilled like the electric spark along the whole line of the 
frontier. The hardy settler on the upper Ohio sprung to his 
arms ; the men of "the bloody ground" came up in thousands 
to the standard of their favorite chief; and even the dwellers 
beyond our own mountains — the yeomanry of Western Penn- 
sylvania — acknowledging the generous impulse, and fired by the 
common enthusiasm which pervaded the whole West, abandoned 
their plows in the furrow, and snatched down their rifles from 
the wall. The arrival of General Harrison was welcomed with 
shouts of applause by the volunteers assembled in the state of 
Ohio. The President of the United States had, in the meantime, 
without the knowledge of what had transpired in the West, 
bestowed the chief command on General Winchester, an officer 
who had gathered experience and distinction in the war of the 
Revolution, and invested General Harrison with the rank of a 
Brigadier; but the judgment of the people reversed the decision 



l6o THOMAS WILLIAMS 

of the President, and in conformity with the unanimous wishes 
of the army, who were only reconciled to the change by the 
assurance that it would be of brief duration, he raised the 
defender of the frontier at once to the highly honorable, but 
most arduous trust of Commander-in-Chief of the North-western 
army. 

But his was no holiday distinction. To him the triple duty 
was assigned, of defending a long line of frontier, of retaking 
Detroit, and of carrying the war into the province of Upper 
Canada. To accomplish all this, he had a force at his disposal 
of about ten thousand men. But they were raw and inexperi- 
enced, unaccustomed to habits of obedience or to the discipline 
of a camp, enlisted generally for short terms of service, and 
governable only by the personal influence of their commander. 
He was, moreover, without military stores or munitions of war, 
without magazines, or depots, or fortified posts, and thus ill- 
provided, with these slender and unequal means, he was expected 
to traverse an almost impassable wilderness, and to encounter, 
in the wily savage and the well-trained veteran, a combination 
of force such as no other American general had perhaps ever 
met. But he accomplished it all, and to the astonishment and 
admiration of the whole country, he achieved this great work 
in the incredibly short space of some thirteen months, driving 
the invader from our soil, pursuing and overthrowing him on 
his own territory, and planting the triumphant banner of his 
country over the lion standard of England upon the field of the 
Thames. 

In pursuit of this object, he laid down his plan of operations 
on a base line extending from Upper Sandusky to Fort Defiance, 
with a common point of concentration at the Rapids of the 
Miami of the Lakes, and distributing his army into three divi- 
sions, the right of which, consisting of the Virginia and Pennsyl- 
vania troops, was commanded by himself in person, he directed 
a simultaneous movement upon that point. By the last of 
January, through incredible hardships, and after most unex- 
ampled toil, this first important step was accomplished, and a 
general junction effected at the desired place. The army then 
went into winter quarters ; the position was strongly fortified, 
and the name assigned to it of Camp Meigs, in honor of the 
governor of Ohio. It was destined to become the theatre of one 
of the most brilliant events of the war, and if it has not received 
that distinction which it deserved, it is only because it paled 
before the superior lustre of the events which followed. 

The siege of Fort Meigs is familiar to you all. There are 
some within the hearing of my voice who were there, and if 



EULOGY ON PRESIDENT HARRISON l6l 

there be one amongst them who can think of the kindness and 
the courage of his old commander now, without feeHng the 
blended emotions of pride and affection swelling from his heart 
and dimming his eye, I have yet to meet him. I will not, there- 
fore, fatigue you with details. On the 27th of April, the British 
General Proctor sat down before that position with a large force 
of regulars and Indians, amounting to several thousand men, 
and after opening on it a tremendous fire from their several 
batteries erected for that purpose, sent in a flag to demand its 
surrender, as the only means of saving the garrison from the 
tomahawk and scalping-knife. The reply of General Harrison 
was characteristic: "Tell General Proctor that this fort will 
never surrender to him on any terms. If it should fall into his 
hands, it will be in such a manner as will do him more honor, 
and give him larger claims upon the gratitude of his government, 
than any capitulation." The batteries of the enemy were carried 
by a well directed and brilliant sortie, and the British general, 
despairing of success, broke up his camp, and retreated in con- 
fusion and disgrace in the direction of Maiden. Again, how- 
ever, did he renew the attempt with a still stronger force, but 
again was he obliged to abandon it in despair, and take refuge 
beyond the border. But there was no safety for him there. The 
indefatigable Harrison, with his brave frontiers-men, incensed 
at the barbarities of the savage Proctor, and thirsting for 
revenge, was on his bloody trail. With the zealous cooperation 
of the gallant Perry, who had just achieved, with the assistance 
of Harrison, his memorable victory on the lake, he embarked 
his troops — landed them on the Canadian shore — encamped on 
the ruins of Maiden — and pursued, and overtook, and captured 
his flying enemy on the banks of the Thames. Of the details 
of that action, I have not leisure to speak. Its result was not 
less important than honorable to the American arms. It anni- 
hilated the British force in Upper Canada, dissolved in the blood 
of Tecumthe the alliance with the Indian tribes, and wound up 
the war in a blaze of glory along the whole North-western 
frontier. Nor did it fail to be properly appreciated by the 
people. The intelligence of this great victory sped like lightning 
over the whole land. The sound of rejoicing was heard on every 
side. Our cities blazed with bonfires and illuminations. From 
town and tower the bells rang many a merry peal. The path 
of the conqueror in the direction of the seat of government 
was a career of triumph. The victory of Harrison was pro- 
nounced on the floor of Congress to be such an one as "would 
have secured a Roman general, in the best days of the Republic, 
the honors of a triumph ;" the blessings of thousands of v/omen 



l62 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

and children rescued from the scalping-knife of the ruthless 
savage of the wilderness, and from the still more savage Proc- 
tor, were invoked upon his head by the governor of our own 
state, in these very halls ; and the solemn thanks of the nation 
were awarded to him by the nation's representatives. 

With all these honors clustered round his brow, the laureled 
chief returned to Cincinnati, in January, 1814, to resume the 
command of his appropriate district. If the judgment of the 
public had been consulted, it would have assigned to him a 
higher and more honorable destination. The western horizon, 
thanks to his heroic efforts and sacrifices, was now clear, and 
there was no further employment there for such a man as Har- 
rison. But the war was still raging in the North, and much and 
deep solicitude was felt amongst the officers and soldiers there, 
that the chief command, which he had so richly earned, should 
be bestowed on him. The gallant Perry, who had served as a 
volunteer aid by the side of Harrison at the battle of the 
Thames, in a letter written to him about that period, says, "You 
know what has been my opinion as to the future commander-in- 
chief of the army. I pride myself not a little in seeing my pre- 
diction so near being verified; yes, my dear friend, I expect to 
hail you as the chief who is to redeem the honor of our arms in 
the Is^orth." General McArthur, another of his fellow-soldiers, 
who had served long under his command, in another letter of 
the same date, written from Albany, declares, "You, sir, stand 
the highest with the militia of this state of any general in the 
service. I am confident that no man can fight them to so great 
an advantage, and I think their extreme solicitude may be the 
means of calling you to this frontier." The veteran Shelby, a 
relic of the Revolution, who had fought in some of its bloodiest 
fields, and had finished his brilliant career of service under 
Harrison himself at the Thames, in a letter addressed to Presi- 
dent Madison, a short time afterward, expresses the same 
opinion in much stronger language. "A rumor," he says, "has 
reached this state, that the commanding general of the Northern 
army may be removed. The circumstance has induced me to 
reflect on the subject, and give a decided preference to Major 
General Harrison as a successor. Having served a campaign 
with General Harrison, by which I have been enabled to form 
some opinion of his military talents and capacity to command, 
I feel no hesitation in declaring to you, that I believe him to be 
one of the first military characters I ever knew: and in addition 
to this, he is capable of making greater personal exertions than 
any other officer with whom I have ever served. I doubt not 
but it will hereafter be found that the command of the North- 



EULOGY ON PRESIDENT HARRISON 163 

western army, and the various duties attached to it, has been 
one of the most arduous and difficult tasks ever assigned to any 
officer in the United States. Yet he surmounted them all. 
Impressed with the conviction that General Harrison is fully 
equal to the command of the Northern army, should a change 
take place in that division, I have ventured thus freely to state 
my opinion of him, that he is a consummate general, and would 
fill that station with ability and honor; and if, on the other hand, 
any arrangement should take place in the War Department which 
may produce the resignation of General Harrison, it will be a 
misfortune which our country will have cause to lament. His 
appointment to the command of the Northern army would be 
highly gratifying to the wishes of the Western people." Such 
was the voluntary testimony of a soldier who had fought under 
such officers as Gates, and Marion, and Greene. 

But the Secretary of War had other views. General Har- 
rison had offended him, and in return, he was destined for 
inactive service, as the fruit of all his toils. With the quick 
sensibilities of a soldier, he had remonstrated with great warmth, 
against the withdrawal of General Howard from his command, 
as an invasion of the prerogatives of his rank and station, as the 
commander of a military district, declaring at the same time, 
that "apart from the consideration of his duty to the country, 
he had no other inducement to remain in the army, and that, 
if those prerogatives were taken from him, he could render no 
important service, and would much rather be permitted to retire 
to private life." Another interference, of like character, with 
the internal police of his district, in an order issued directly 
to Major Holmes, one of his subordinate officers, in violation of 
all military propriety, joined to the persuasion that he was 
destined to rust in inglorious repose, determined him at once, 
and he threw up his commission, assigning as a reason therefor, 
in a letter of the same date, addressed to the President himself, 
that he could hold it no longer with a proper regard to his own 
feelings or honor. It was accepted by the Secretary, in the 
absence of the President and very much to his regret ; and thus 
the nation was deprived of the military services of the only 
general who had then shed lustre on its arms. 

But those services were too valuable to be dispensed with 
altogether. The President of the United States, seized upon the 
earliest occasion which presented itself, to testify his unabated 
confidence in the western chief, by appointing him, during the 
same summer, in conjunction with Governor Shelby and General 
Cass, to negotiate a treaty with the Indians at Greenville; and 
in the next following year, he was placed at the head of another 



164 TPIOMAS WILLIAMS 

commission of like character, arising out of the final termi- 
nation of the war with Great Britain. In both instances he 
acquitted himself with the same signal credit which had attended 
all his diplomatic efforts in that direction. 

His long period of public service in the employ of the gen- 
eral government having now ended with the return of peace, 
General Harrison retired to his farm on the Ohio, for the 
purpose of devoting himself to the pursuits of private Hfe, and 
repairing those losses which had resulted from his patient and 
uninterrupted devotion to the service of the country. But he 
was not long permitted to enjoy the quiet or repose which he 
sought. The public voice again assigned him to a place in 
Congress, where he remained until the year 1819, when he was 
elected to the Senate of the state of Ohio, from which he was 
translated in the year 1824 to a seat in the Senate of the United 
States, as one of the representatives of the giant state which had 
sent him in its infancy to the public councils, in the humble 
capacity of its first territorial delegate. Of his services there, 
it would be impossible to discourse at large within the brief 
space which is allowed me. It is enough to say, that they were 
entirely worthy of his ancient fame — his large experience, his 
cultivated understanding, and his remarkable readiness and 
power as a debater, placing him at once in a commanding posi- 
tion in that august assembly. 

In the latter part of the year 1828, he received from Mr. 
Adams the appointment of Minister Plenipotentiary to the 
Republic of Columbia, from which post he was recalled early 
in the following year, without the opportunity of distinguishing 
his mission by any other incident than the publication of his 
celebrated letter to Bolivar. On his return, he repaired again 
to his humble but beautiful retreat on the Ohio, where he con- 
tinued to enjoy that repose which was so necessary to his toil- 
worn frame, until the voice of the nation again summoned him 
from his retirement, to preside over the destinies of this great 
empire. 

The rest of the story is soon told. He obeyed the summons : 
the West surrendered its chief into the arms of the Republic, 
and already he sleeps with his fathers, and a sorrowing nation 
weeps over his tomb. He has gone down — he, the survivor of 
so many conflicts, who has so often ridden unharmed on the fiery 
breath of the battle field^— has gone down — not in the shock of 
contending armies, not amid the thunders of the fight, but rather 
like some ancient oak, which has breasted the tempest for a 
thousand years, and then falls in the stillness and solitude of the 
forest, with all its branching honors about its head. If the 



EULOGY ON PRESIDENT HARRISON 165 

hopes and prayers of a great people could have averted the 
impending blow, it w^ould not have fallen. But the approaches 
of the destroyer had no terrors for him. He had already 
encountered him in a thousand forms. No unseemly struggle — 
no shrinking of the flesh — no darkening of the spirit — charac- 
terized the final rupture of that tie, which wedded the immortal 
occupant to the frail tenement which it had animated and 
illuminated for nearly seventy years. It went down like a 
tranquil sunset, and as it was shedding its last parting rays upon 
the mansion which it had so long inhabited, it flashed for a 
moment upward, cleared the film from the darkening eye, and 
showed that the last thoughts of the patriot were turned upon 
his country. "I wish you to understand the true principles of 
this government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more." 
It was his dying testament to his successor. May it be executed 
in the spirit in which it was delivered ! 

Having thus accompanied the illustrious man, whose loss 
we so deeply lament, down to the last closing scene of a long and 
eventful life, it only remains to gather from the varied picture 
which that life presents, a few of the leading traits which mark 
the individual, and, added to his public services, assist in dis- 
tinguishing him from his compeers, and taking him out of the 
roll of ordinary men. 

Of the character of General Harrison as a military man, it 
will be scarcely necessary to speak. The judgment of his con- 
temporaries is already before you, and there is no appeal but to 
that august tribunal which will pronounce its decision through 
the voice of impartial history. If, however, success is to be 
regarded as the true criterion of ability in this kind, that voice 
must assign to him a high rank amongst our military com- 
manders. To him belongs the distinguished merit of being one 
of the very few leaders who, during a long period of service, have 
borne the flag of our country in triumph over many a field, and 
never suffered it to bow in dishonor in one. It has been publicly 
remarked of him, by one who was a gallant and successful 
soldier himself, that "he had been longer in active service than 
any other general officer — was perhaps oftener in action than 
any of them, and had never sustained a defeat." But if results 
are to be compared with means, how transcendent must his 
merit appear ! He had armies to create, to organize, and to 
supply — of materials which were ever changing, and of men who 
were not habituated to obedience. The men whom he com- 
manded were no hireling soldiery, no mercenaries, whose blood 
could be measured, and weighed, and counted out in drachms. 



l66 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

They were men like ourselves, of all trades and professions, 
who had taken up arms in defense of their homes and their fire- 
sides, their wives and their children. They constituted more- 
over, the only defense of the frontier, and their lives were not 
to be thrown away on calculation, or the safety of that frontier 
jeopardized by a general action at any disadvantage. To Gen- 
eral Harrison it was not permitted, as to Napoleon, to win his 
victories, or cover himself with laurels, at the rate of ten 
thousand men a day. It was incumbent on him to accommodate 
himself to circumstances, to husband carefully his resources, to 
be on all occasions wary, circumspect and prudent, and to adopt 
that Fabian policy which had conducted us so triumphantly 
through the war of the Revolution, and which won for him the 
exalted title of "the Washington of the West." In his personal 
character, too, were most admirably blended all those elements, 
which, by their well tempered and judicious intermixture, con- 
stitute the high talent of military command. A happy mixture of 
caution and courage — remarkable coolness and self-possession in 
danger — an inexhaustible fertility of resources — great decision 
of character — high powers of combination, and equally high 
powers of physical endurance — together with a kindness of heart 
and manners, which secured the affections of his soldiery to such 
an extent, that, in the language of a historian of the late war, 
"his men would have fought better and suffered more with him, 
than with any other general m America" — were among his lead- 
ing qualities. To these, also, may be added an ardent love for 
his profession, and an assiduous devotion to the study of military 
science, which distmguished him even in his novitiate in arms. 
But he could scarcely be considered a soldier by profession. It 
was only when the country required a defender, that he was 
induced to take the field, and when the exigency was over he 
invariably returned again to the walks of civil life. 

Nor were his excellencies less conspicuous there. As a states- 
m.an, he occupied a high rank in the councils of the nation. With 
a ready eloquence, which was never at fault, and a voice of 
great compass and power, joined to a lively imagination, and 
the rich and varied stores of a well cultivated and well regulated 
mind, he never spoke without commanding the attention of his 
audience, and never failed to make an impression whenever he 
was heard; and he has left behind him some memorials of his 
ability, that are among the finest specimens of intellectual effort 
which embellish the register of our congressional debates. Gen- 
eral Harrison was a natural orator. With him it was an original 
gift. His lip was touched with the living fire which art may 



EULOGY ON PRESIDENT HARRISON 167 

improve, but no study can ever impart. Endowed, like some of 
the Athenian generals, with a ready faculty of communicating 
his ideas, and remarkable powers of language and illustration, 
his thoughts flowed smoothly, and freely, and strongly, and with- 
out efifort or constraint. He was, perhaps, the only one of our 
military commanders who has indulged in the practice of oral 
addresses to his troops; and if any evidence were wanting of 
the effect of his oratory, it might be found in many instances 
throughout his military career. His suppression of a mutiny 
amongst the Kentucky levies at Fort Wayne, is one of the most 
remarkable. His sudden appearance among the excited 
soldiery — his strong, affectionate, impressive and eloquent appeal 
to the pride and patriotism of the Kentucky troops — and the 
immediate return of those brave men to their duty — compose 
one of the most striking pictures of the effect of popular 
eloquence which can be found on record. 

'Nor was he less distinguished as a writer. His general 
orders and his dispatches, written as they were without pre- 
meditation, and frequently upon a drum-head, are among the 
clearest and most forcible which have ever emanated from any 
of our commanders ; and his occasional papers, among which 
may be enumerated his Report on the Militia — his disquisition 
on the Aborigines of the Valley of the Ohio — his Lectures on 
Agriculture — and his famous letter to Bolivar — are so elegant 
in diction, so replete with classical illusion, and so rich in rhe- 
torical beauty, that they would do honor to any man in the 
country. 

But there is more in the character of this distinguished man 
than perhaps history will ever chronicle, or any other than the 
faithful pen of biography will ever portray. It was a sentiment 
of his own, that "the successful warrior is no longer regarded as 
entitled to the first place in the temple of fame, and that to be 
esteemed eminently great, it is necessary to be eminently good." 
And well may he submit his reputation beyond the grave, to that 
high ordeal which he has himself prescribed. It will impair none 
of his titles to the distinction which has been bestowed on him 
by his countrymen. He will pass through it, not merely 
unharmed, but purified, exalted and ennobled — surrounded with a 
bright halo of moral beauty, which will throw all his laurels as 
a warrior into the shade. If he was without fear as a soldier, 
he was without reproach as a citizen. If his high qualities, and 
successful career as a general, entitled him to be styled "the 
Washington of the West," the resemblance did not end there. 
His private character, like Washington's, was without spot or 



l68 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

blemish. Like hinij he was in all his relations, kind, generous 
and humane, with the integrity of a Fabricius, and a "chastity 
of honor" which would have been worthy of a Bayard. In war, 
he was a very minister of mercy. He suffered no harsh or 
ignominious punishment to be inflicted on his troops. His argu- 
ment was reason — his chastisement, reproof. He pardoned them 
when they erred, and he taught them to be merciful like himself, 
even in their collisions with the enemy. "Let an account of 
murdered innocence be opened in the records of heaven against 
our enemies alone. The American soldierwill followthe example 
of his government, and the sword of the one will not be raised 
against the fallen and helpless, nor the gold of the other be paid 
for the scalps of a massacred enemy." "Kentuckians ! Remem- 
ber the River Raisin; but remember it only while the victory is 
suspended. The revenge of a soldier cannot be gratified on a 
fallen enemy." Such was the sublime and eloquent language of 
his addresses to his soldiery after the affair of the Massissiniway, 
and before the battle of the Thames. In the first, he was thank- 
ing his brave Pennsylvania volunteers for their humanity; in 
the second, he was stimulating the countrymen of those who 
were slaughtered in cold blood at the Raisin River, to a lively 
but a generous recollection of their wrongs. How noble ! How 
exalted ! How far do such sentiments place him above the level 
of the vulgar hero ! And how beautifully did his own conduct 
correspond ! When he passed over into Canada, in the month of 
October, at the head of his conquering legions, he carried with 
him no other covering than a blanket at his saddle bow; but 
instead of retaliating the barbarities of the bloody Proctor, it is 
related of him, that he generously parted with even that blanket, 
to relieve the sufferings of a wounded British officer, on the 
very night after the battle of the Thames. 

His magnanimity was not less conspicuous than his human- 
ity. On the only occasion wherein his integrity was ever ques- 
tioned, after vindicating his honor by an action in which the 
most exemplary damages were awarded him, he bestowed one- 
third the amount on the orphan children of his fellow-soldiers 
who had fallen in battle, and remitted the remainder to the very 
individual who had injured him. He was capable even of par- 
doning the assassin who had hired his steel to strike at his own 
life, on the eve of his engagement on the Wabash. No vindic- 
tive feeling ever found a habitation in his bosom. No stormy 
passion tossed it into wrath. It was the dwelling place of none 
but the gentle affections. He treasured up no dark remembrance 
of wrong; he carried with him into his high office no feelings 



EULOGY ON PRESIDENT HARRISON 169 

of personal unkindness even toward those who had warred most 
bitterly against him ; and the universal sorrow which now over- 
spreads this land, furnishes the highest assurance that he who 
knew no hate — no feeling which a man might blush to own — 
has died, as he deserved, without an enemy. 

But who shall tell of the many private virtues, which sur- 
rounded and sanctified his fire-side? Who shall relate the noble 
deeds of charity, which diffused their influence around his 
hospitable home? There is no record kept on earth of the 
sorrows of the humble, and none which can disclose the quiet 
and unpretending ministry which relieves the wants of the dis- 
tressed ; but well did the unfortunate know the heart which was 
ever alive to the appeals of suffering, and the hand which was 
ever open to the cry of distress. The tales which have been told 
in illustration of this beautiful trait in the character of General 
Harrison, are many of them so unlike anything which we have 
been accustomed to see around us, as to have been regarded by 
many as mere fables. Incredible, however, as they may have 
seemed, some of the most incredible were true. That the same 
may be said of most of them I verily believe, and so too will 
those who remember that one of the very last acts of his life 
was an act of the purest and noblest charity toward a poor sea- 
man, with whom accident alone had made him acquainted. 

If he had any fault, it was his exceeding generosity, his 
unparalleled disinterestedness, his utter disregard of self. As 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, he declined the perquisites 
which had been usual in that office. For his important services 
on the Wabash, he neither asked nor received compensation. 
As commander-in-chief of the army, the deficiency of his pay, 
arising from his liberal hospitality and his private charity, was 
supplied out of his own private resources; and a committee of 
Congress in 1817, bore honorable testimony to the fact that his 
private fortune had suffered very materially from his devotion to 
the public interests. For reasons such as these, and with oppor- 
tunities of amassing wealth such as few men in this country have 
ever enjoyed — which he refused to improve, because he was a 
public officer — he has died poor — not in the gratitude of his 
countrymen — but poor in worldly wealth, and the Republic 
which so lately received him from the arms of his family, has 
returned nothing but his ashes to those who looked up to him 
for protection. While the nation mourns, there is one — the 
bereaved — the companion of his early manhood and the witness 
of his recent fame — who heeds not the voice of eulogy or the 
funeral pomp, but weeps as did Rachel of old, in solitude by the 



170 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

waters of the Ohio. The nation cannot return to her what it 
received; it cannot re-animate the generous and affectionate 
heart which is now cold; but it can throw its sheltering arms 
over the heads of the afflicted, and shall it not, out of its abun- 
dance, relieve the lone and disconsolate one — the partner of him 
who has served it so long and so well — in the hour of her dark- 
ness and tribulation? If Harrison had lived, and she had been 
the relict of another who had served and died like him, he would 
have been the first himself to have appealed in her behalf to the 
generous sympathies of the nation. 

But I can no longer dwell upon this attractive theme. All 
these high qualities — all these rare endowments — all these exalted 
and ennobling virtues, have perished with the manly heart around 
which they were so richly clustered. Harrison is no longer 
among the living; his name now belongs to history. He has 
taken his place in the national Pantheon ; he is enrolled in the 
list of the illustrious dead. Another of the remaining links 
which still connect us with the heroic age of the Revolution is 
sundered. The father and the son — the signer of the immortal 
Declaration, and his still more illustrious offspring — now stand 
side by side. The fame of the younger, like that of the elder 
Harrison, is now one of the family jewels of the country. But 
it lives not merely in the records of the past; it still lingers in 
the affections and memories of the living. And so it does now, 
and so it will continue to linger in the hearts of those who hear 
me. I recognize no exception. I fear not the intrusion of any 
unkind recollection, any unhallowed or irreverent thought, into 
a scene like this. The father of our Republic is no more, and we, 
his children, are assembled around the funeral urn, to gaze for 
the last time, upon the pallid and death-smitten features of him 
who has just departed. It is not Harrison the candidate — it 
is Harrison the President — it is the Commander of our armies 
— it is the young Ensign of Maumee — it is the soldier of Tippe- 
canoe — it is the conqueror at the Thames — and we, we are 
Americans, who now do honor to his memory. It is a nation 
which mourns — it is the chief of a mighty people who has fallen. 
The deep, and pure, and beautiful fountain of American feeling 
has welled up at the general shock of this great calamity, and the 
grand moral spectacle is now exhibited, of a whole people in 
tears. Who would not die so to be lamented, and so to live 
hereafter? The loss is not his, who has thus been embalmed, 
but ours. The Providence which has afflicted has not been 
unkind to him. He has been reserved for the enjoyment of the 
highest honors of the Republic, as though it had been merely to 



EULOGY ON PRESIDENT HARRISON I7I 

secure to him a niche in that immortal gallery which belongs to 
our canonized dead; and he has been removed from the labors 
and responsibilities of his high station, with no hope disap- 
pointed, no confidence impaired, but with the first flush of the 
popular honors — the high, the crowning reward of a long life 
of public service — yet lingering freshly on his brow. The gift 
which you have conferred on him, was but the passport to all 
time. The Republic has lost a President — but Harrison is 
immortal. 

To us, however, who remain the fruits of this visitation may 
not be unwholesome. The calamity which we deplore, is one 
which has been reserved for the present generation. The hand 
of Providence has never fallen upon us as a people, thus heavily 
before. The great and good men who have successively been 
called to preside over the affairs of this Republic, have, with 
only two or three exceptions, returned to their kindred dust ; 
but the death of a President of these United States at any period 
of the administration of his high trust, is a circumstance which 
has no precedent in our history as a nation. It does not, how- 
ever, become us to murmur or repine. We may lament over our 
national, as it is permitted to us over our domestic bereavements, 
because a reasonable grief is not inconsistent with a due sub- 
mission to the will of Him, who blesses while he afflicts ; but it 
is not for us to gainsay the councils of eternity, or to rebel 
against the dispensations of that high and inscrutable power, 
which shapes the destinies of men and nations, according to its 
own sovereign and unquestionable will. It becomes us the 
rather to rejoice, that the blow under which our infancy would 
have reeled, has been graciously spared for the noon of our 
manhood, and the meridian of our strength. It deserves to be 
considered only as another manifestation of that superintending 
care which led our ancestors through the perils of the Revolu- 
tion, and has since shown out in the darkest periods of our 
history, like a pillar of fire, to conduct this chosen people of 
God, toward the accomplishment of the high destiny for which 
they have been evidently reserved. If it has succeeded in 
humbling us again into the reverential posture which becomes 
an afflicted people, and gathering us once more, like our fathers, 
around the common altar of our country, it has accomplished 
much already. If it shall be instrumental in demonstrating the 
self-sustaining powers, and developing another of the latent 
beauties of our admirable but experimental system of govern- 
ment, it will accomplish still more. It has already taught the 
kings of the earth, in the universal swell of public sorrow which 



172 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

has heaved the bosom of this nation, and drowned even the 
resentments of party, that the prejudices of royalty which sur- 
round and fortify their thrones, are but as dust in the balance, 
when compared with the unbought and unpurchasable affections 
of a free people. It will teach them, as we weather in safety 
the dangerous headland of a new succession, under untried 
circumstances, that no bloody convulsion, such as often attends 
the transfer of an iron sceptre, here awaits the demise of the 
popular crown. It will teach them, too, that the spirits of the 
honored and the trusted dead, still walk amongst us, to quicken, 
to animate, to counsel, and to direct — and uniting in undying 
counsel, the wisdom of the dead with the affectionate reverence 
of the living, it will bind the crown of immortality about the 
brow of our young Republic. 

This noble discourse drew not only the official public 
at Harrisburg, but also "a number of persons," says the 
United States Gazette report of April 26th (1841), "attracted 
as well by their admiration of the deceased as by the high 
character of the gentleman to whom the task of delineat- 
ing his virtues and services had been assigned, from 
neighboring towns and cities to listen to the touching tale 
of the life and death of their beloved President." "The 
Oration," it continues, "was well worthy the exalted 
theme to which it had reference, and reflected the highest 
credit upon the head and heart of the talented and clas- 
sical gentleman who pronounced it. Its delivery occupied 
an hour and three quarters, during which time, although 
a large majority of the audience, owing to the crowd were 
compelled to stand up or be very uncomfortably seated, 
a breathless silence and intense interest was exhibited 
from the first until the last. * * * The incidents 
were happily chosen, and dressed out in the beautiful garb 
of a chaste and classical imagination ; the address was 
impressive and interesting in the highest degree." To 
this may be added the estimate of a writer reviewing it in 
a Baltimore paper over a quarter of a century later: "A 
performance which has also found its way, as a subject 
of school declamation, into some of the leading colleges of 
the Union, as well East as West. That performance, 
which is now before us, conceived and executed as it is 
upon the model of the French Academy, is worthy of the 



EULOGY ON PRESIDENT HARRISON I73 

golden age of English pulpit oratory. There is nothing 
in the celebrated discourse of Bossuet, upon the death of 
Henrietta Maria, of England, to excel it in the lofty 
march of its periods."^ It "is justly placed by the side of 
Lee's eulogium on Washington," says a writer in the 
Pittsburgh Post? 

' The Chronotype, Baltimore, June 27, 1868. 
*June 13, 1872. 



CHAPTER XI 

Events Leading to the Disastrous Whig Campaign 

OF '44, Which Cause Him to Abandon 

Politics for a Decade 

His Great Tariff Speech in Pittsburgh 

1841 

The delivery of Senator Williams' great eulogy on 
the late President was soon followed by the adjournment 
of the Legislature and the expiration of his term of serv- 
ice. His reputation as an orator led to demands upon 
him for "occasional addresses" from various quarters, 
one of them being a regular lecture course under the 
auspices of the Mercantile Library, of Philadelphia, in 
which served such men as Hon. J. R. Ingersoll and the 
famous Presbyterian divine, Albert Barnes, of the First 
Church. He was also in demand for the coming State 
campaign, in which the Whigs were to receive the first 
premonitions of disaster. It must be recalled that the 
Whigs were virtually pledged to restore the financial 
equilibrium of the country by a successor to the United 
States Bank, and that Mr. Tyler, who was put on the 
ticket as an anti-Van Buren or Calhoun Democrat allied 
with the Whigs, forthwith, on becoming Harrison's suc- 
cessor, vetoed the whole bank movement in all its forms 
and precipitated the resignation of all his cabinet except 
Webster. He thus alienated and greatly injured the 
Whig party and practically became a strict-construc- 
tionist Democratic President. The rise of Abolitionism 
in Whig ranks further weakened them and the fall State 
elections of 1841 showed great Democratic gains, Penn- 
sylvania being among the States lost to the Whigs. 
Consequently, when the gradual reduction tariflf of 1833 
came to produce so little revenue as not to meet the 
expenses of government, as happened at this period, the 
174 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN 1^$ 

very existence of a protective tariff was threatened. 
Indeed, the Democrats, headed by President Tyler, 
demanded the cessation of protection in 1842 as a part 
of the spirit of the act of 1833, and consented only to the 
revenue tariff of 1842. All this had been rendered possi- 
ble with still greater facility by an event almost contem- 
porary with the death of Harrison, the retirement of 
Clay from his long career in the Senate, which dated back 
even to 1806, the very birth-year of Thomas Williams.^ 

These events, which to Mr. Williams would be a 
series of both public and personal disasters, were not 
destined to be the only ones to him personally. For eight 
years — or since the great Whig uprising of 1834 — he had 
borne in his own State the brunt of battle for a national 
Whig party, by both pen and voice, and the long con- 
tinued struggle had either caused, or developed tend- 
encies already existing to, trouble with his heart. This 
became so serious in the spring of 1842 that he was com- 
pelled to seek expert examination in Philadelphia in the 
person of none other than his old collegemate. Dr. W. W. 
Gerhard, who had already won an enviable reputation as 
a scientific medical investigator.^ A more quiet life 
became absolutely necessary, while the trouble continued 
to require his physician's oversight during both that year 
and the next,^ Indeed, he always thereafter had to con- 
sider the threats which this organ made against over 
activity. 

It was impossible, however, for Mr. Williams not to 
enter into the great Whig effort of 1843 to make another 
desperate fight, this time under the great Kentuckian, 
Henry Clay, and primarily for the existence of a protec- 
tive tariff. He was one of those who organized Clay 
Clubs and was chairman of a committee of the one at 



• Clay made his closing address on March 31, 1841, in one of the most 
profoundly affecting scenes ever witnessed in the United States Senate. See 
United States Gazette for April 2, 1841. 

2 For an account of Dr. Gerhard's relation to the profession in Philadel- 
phia and elsewhere see "A History of the Medical Profession in Philadelphia 
from 1638 to 1897," by Burton Alva Konkle, the same being the original 
manuscript of nearly four-fifths of the history edited by Dr. Frederick P. 
Henry, Honorary Librarian of the College of Physicians, where this manu- 
script may be seen. P. 202. 

» His letters to his wife from Philadelphia during his trips to Philadelphia 
indicate the nature and seriousness of his trouble, which took the form of 
enlargement of the heart. 



176 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

Pittsburgh which extended an invitation to Mr. Clay 
to visit their city on his return from his North Carolina 
trip. The invitation, which was written by Mr. Williams, 
is as follows : 

"The 'Clay Club' of the City of Pittsburgh, understanding 
that it is your purpose to return by one of the Northern Routes 
from your projected visit to North Carolina, & desirous of tes- 
tifying their regard for your person & character, have charged 
the undersigned with the office of writing you, in their behalf, 
to pay a visit to this place upon your homeward journey. 

"The undersigned take great pleasure in performing the 
duty which has thus been devolved upon them. They are very 
sure that they only express the sentiment of a large majority 
of this community when they say that it would rejoice them 
greatly to take by the hand, here, in this home of the mechanic 
arts, the only truly practical Statesman, who, above all others, 
has been distinguished throughout fiis long & brilliant career, 
by his uniform & untiring advocacy of the interests of American 
labor in all its manifold departments, whatever may be the 
diversities of opinion which exist amongst us upon other ques- 
tions of national policy, they are enabled to affirm, at all events, 
in relation to this, that the novel idea of the encouragement 
of manufactures by the reduction of wages to the European 
standard, or of sustaining this government by any other means 
than a tarifif on importations regulated with a view to the pro- 
tection of our infant arts, would find no open advocate here. 
They do not therefore hesitate in pledging to the Father of 'the 
American System' the cordial & general welcome which he has 
so richly earned for himself at the door of every working man 
in this country. 

"The undersigned will not dwell upon the many other con- 
siderations which would render a visit from you particularly 
acceptable at the present juncture. Your name has come upon 
us, in the hour of our deepest gloom, to awaken anew the high 
hopes which animated us in the campaign of 1840. It has been 
adopted by the Club which we have the honor to represent from 
no merely slavish attachment to the individual to whom it 
belongs, but because it is regarded by them, in common with the 
great Whig party of the Union, as the impersonation of their 
most cherished principles & assurance of a fidelity which under 
no circumstances of trial or temptation will ever either disappoint 
or betray. They are now looking forward with a lively confi- 
dence to the era when the ascendency of those principles shall be 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN IJJ 

again established, & adequate protection to their industry, the 
provision of a currency which shall facilitate all the operations 
of exchange & insure to labor its just reward, & a fair & equitable 
distribution of the proceeds of the public domain, among our 
debt-burthened, & credit-ruined States, shall be regarded as the 
settled policy of this government; & they would hail with high 
satisfaction the appearance amongst them of the individual to 
whom the country is now looking for the realization of the 
many hopes which were inspired by the election of the lamented 
Harrison."^ 

This was dated on November 8, 1843, ^"^d the fol- 
lowing reply, marked by him ("Private") came from Mr. 
Clay at his country seat, "Ashland," about a month later: 

"Ashland 2d Dec 1843" 
"My Dear Sir 

"I think I prepared letters to yourself and the Comee. some 
weeks ago, but amidst the great extent of my correspondence, 
which is very burthensome, I am not sure that they were sent. 
I have therefore prepared others, which I now forward. You 
will perceive that I am compelled with regret to decline the 
invitation sent me. 

"I am very glad to hear from you that the divisions which 
have unfortunately existed in Allegheny are yielding to a spirit 
of harmony, and are likely to be reconciled. 

"Great injustice is done me at Pittsburgh in the opinion 
which you say is entertained there by some about my agency 
in the passage of the Compromise act. At the time of its intro- 
duction, the whole protection system was threatened with utter 
subversion, and the nation with civil war. Who produced that 
crisis? Not me; but Genl Jackson (whom Penna had power- 
fully contributed to elevate) He first seemed to favor and 
then was opposed to protection. He first encouraged and then 
denounced nullification. And I, who sought to save the Union 
from civil war, and the American system from destruction, by 
the Compromise act, have given dissatisfaction where Genl 
Jackson may yet be a favorite ! Such is human justice. 



' Copy among the Williams papers. This is evidently the public letter 
to Mr. Clay, as the latter's reply seems to imply a private letter from Mr. 
Williams in addition to this one. The Compromise Act is the tariflt of 1833. 
The following incident is related of Clay by F. M. Simmons, Esq., of Swarth- 
more, Pa., whose uncle was a leading photographer of Philadelphia in Clay's 
day. Bishop Potter (of Pennsylvania) brought the great Kentuckian in one day 
to sit for his portrait. When all was ready he was asked if he had any prefer- 
ence as to position for it, whereupon he disclaimed any interest in the matter, 
adding, with a twinkle in his eyes: "You see, I am Clay in the hands of the 
Potter." 



178 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

"At the very next Session of Congress, if the Compromise 
act had not been passed, the whole system of protection would 
unquestionably have gone "by the board ! did those who condemn 
me desire that? 

"The Compromise up to Dec. 1839 worked well. Its opera- 
tion gave tranquillity to the Manufacturing interest, and would 
have been completely successful but for another measure of 
Genl Jackson— the destruction of the Bank of the U. S. and the 
disorders in the currency, which ensued. Beyond that period, 
it was the duty of a V. Buren Congress to provide, but it failed 
to perform its duty. 

"I learn with surprise and regret that some of my friends 
at Pittsburgh do not concur with me in combining protection 
with revenue, but would prefer protection per se. 

"It is manifest that the protection may be as adequate in 
degree, under the first as the second form, unless the point of 
absolute prohibition is reached. 

"Now, the combined principle will unite the whole country, 
and may preserve our Manufacturing policy. The other prin- 
ciple would divide the Country, and might occasion the loss of 
all protection. 

"What then is most wise and proper? 

"We ought to avoid ultraism. 

"Ask Henry Baldwin, whose devotion to the Manufactures 
of the Country ought never to be questioned, what he thought 
of the Compromise, and of me in proposing it? 

"If Penna is wise, and will prefer measures to men, she 
will secure all her great interests. It was, in my humble opinion, 
the violation of that principle which ever brought them in 
hazard. 

"I am, with great respect, 

"Truly Your friend 

"H. Clay" 
"Thos. Williams Esq." 

A few months later, namely in May, 1844, at Balti- 
more, the National Whig Convention formally chose Mr. 
Clay as the standard-bearer almost wholly on the finan- 
cial questions, endeavoring to make them the sole issue, 
particularly the tariff phase. They made a mighty con- 
test. In Pennsylvania the struggle to restore the tariff 
was particularly intense. The Clay Clubs of Pittsburgh 
and Allegheny called on Mr. Williams to make a key- 
note address which could be used all over the extensive 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN I79 

territory and population influenced by that city. Of all 
his speeches this was the most powerful and it was 
printed and spread broadcast over the West: 

"You have done me the honor," he began, "of requesting me 
to address you on the subject of the protection of American 
Industry and its kindred topics — a subject which, above all 
others involved in the approaching election, is most vital, and 
ought to be most interesting to us, because it touches the well- 
being of every man, woman and child amongst us — and a sub- 
ject, accordingly, upon which it is most important for us to be 
right, and upon which we can least afford to be wrong. I am 
fully aware of my inability to treat it as it deserves. Conceiv- 
ing it, however, to be my duty to contribute any little aid of 
which I may be supposed to be capable, towards the perform- 
ance of the great work of social regeneration in which we are 
employed, I have not felt myself at liberty to decline the 
invitation. 

"This question is, however, so exclusively one of 'facts and 
figures,' is so broad in its details, and affords so little room 
for the embellishments of rhetoric, and the charms and graces 
of elocution, that I am constrained, for the sake of greater 
perspicuity and precision in its treatment, under the terms of 
your invitation, to depart, at the expense of some additional 
labor, from my usual practice, and to run the hazard of tiring 
my audience by presenting it in the shape of a Lecture to the 
consideration of those who have assembled to hear me. 

"As I desire to be practical, I shall address myself more par- 
ticularly to the effect of the Protective System upon the farmer 
and the operative, and endeavor to dispel some of the popular 
errors with which our adversaries have been so industriously, 
and to some extent, successfully, laboring to inoculate those 
two classes for the last few years. That they have been par- 
tially successful in those efforts is apparent from the fact that 
they are still existing as a party amongst us, and have even 
ventured to present to this community, as a candidate for the 
Presidency, an undisguised and unblushing enemy of the sys- 
tem by which Pittsburgh and Allegheny thrive, and our Farm- 
ers and Mechanics live. If a portion of our community were 
not laboring under some species of delusion on this subject, 
there would be but one party amongst us, and they would re- 
pudiate the nomination so made, and say, as one man, through- 
out the whole length and breadth of this country, 'we would as 
lief have ratsbane put into our mouths.' 



I (So THOMAS WILLIAMS 

"The right of protection rests on the reciprocal obligation of 
allegiance to the government under which we live. In return 
for that allegiance it owes to the citizen an ample security for 
life, liberty and property, and he is alike entitled to its protec- 
tion whether either of these be invaded by foreign legislation, 
or assailed by foreign arms. 

"If other nations would trade freely with us, and take in 
exchange for their products whatever we could most advan- 
tageously produce, without taxing us for the privilege with 
heavy burthens and restrictions, we might, perhaps, get along 
tolei-ably well, so far as the mere animal comforts are con- 
cerned, in periods of general public tranquility. If Great 
Britain, for example, would allow us to feed her immense and 
famishing population with the bread stuffs, and to supply her 
manufacturers with the raw material which she wants, and we 
can conveniently spare, upon the condition that she should 
fabricate for us whatever of manufactured articles our com- 
forts or necessaries might require, we might live in compara- 
tive ease and simplicity, but in primeval poverty, as a nation 
of shepherds and husbandmen, with plenty of liesure to 
stretch ourselves upon our mountains' sides, "nd wake the 
sylvan echoes with our pipes ; and this would be regarded 
by Mr. Polk, and the rest of our cotton planters, and free- 
trade theorists as a perfect realization of all their dreams of 
arcadian innocence and commercial equality. Such a state of 
things would, however, be obnoxious to serious objections. 

"It would, in the first place, involve a degree of dependence 
not exactly consistent with our dignity or security as a nation, 
and in the event of a war which would operate as an embargo 
upon our commerce, we might, perhaps, be found wanting in 
the means of supplying shoes, blankets and gun-powder to 
our soldiery, as has more than once happened already in our 
brief history as a people. 

"In the next place, the immense distance which would inter- 
pose between the producer and the consumer, and the conse- 
quent necessity of a double transportation across the Atlantic, 
would be a serious drawback, and prove to that extent, a heavy 
tax upon the labor of both, which a good market at home would 
enable them to save. In this view it would be a losing bargain 
on both sides, and particularly to us, who would produce the 
heavier and cheaper article, as I will illustrate more fully here- 
after. 

"And so would it be too in the effect which it would produce 
upon the rational mind, by cramping and confining the ener- 
gies of our respective populations to any one branch of industry, 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN l8l 

instead of leaving them free as the wind to roam over the 
boundless and varied fields which are now presented for their 
selection. It would be a long stride backward in the direction of 
those arbitrary usages which, in some of the despotic govern- 
ments of the old world, have entailed the occupation of the father 
upon the child through a countless series of generations. All 
this might suit a government of that sort very well, but would be 
ill-adapted either to the institutions of Great Britain or our own. 
"But in the last place, it would be an infinitely worse bargain 
to a people with such a government, and such a country as ours. 
It^ would not merely arrest the developement of the national 
mind, and rob us of all that most distinguishes and exalts us 
as a people, but it would thwart and counteract the obvious 
high destiny of the magnificent country which has been com- 
mitted to our hands— self-poised, as it is, in the midst of the 
ocean which washes its eastern and western shores— rent from 
the old world on either hand — overflowing with agricultural 
and mineral riches, and all the elements of commercial and 
manufacturing wealth, as though it had been intended by Provi- 
dence to stand alone among the nations, self-sustained— inde- 
pendent of all others— supplying every thing for its own use 
from its own capacious bosom, and opening a boundless field 
for every variety of genius and enterprize which our institu- 
tions are so well calculated to produce. In such a bargain, 
Great Britain would have nothing to offer which a bountiful 
Creator has not already laid at our feet, to indemnify us for the 
sacrifice of a single one of the many advantages which we 
enjoy— while we, on the other hand, have much which is essen- 
tial to the prosperity even of her most cherished interests. Her 
uniform policy is to take from us only what she cannot produce 
herself. The same policy on our part would prevent us from 
taking any thing from her at all, and we should be the losers 
by any bargain for an exchange of products even upon equal 
terms. 

"But Great Britain will make no such foolish bargain with us. 
She has her own agriculture to protect, and she understands 
her interests too well to barter away her independence for mere 
bread, which we might at any time capriciously withhold. She 
knows that if she were to unlock her ports to the agricultural 
riches of the western world her farmers would be swept down 
by the inundation, and her landed aristocracy— one of the main 
pillars of her throne— would be beggared. She does not believe 
in the policy of our Loco Foco brethren, of buying where she 
can buy the cheapest, when she can produce the article at home. 
She protects her agriculture, because that is the interest which 



l82 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

most requires protection with her, and she does it at the expense 
even of her own working classes. She excludes by a system of 
duties which is almost prohibitory every product of our soil, 
except the cotton which she requires for her manufacturer, and 
which she sends back to us, at an advance of looo per cent., 
to pay for her own labor, and she compels her starving operatives 
to eat the bread of her own farmers at a cost which is almost in- 
supportable to them. She does not, however, neglect her other 
interests. Her ambition is to be the universal workshop of the 
world. Her policy is to sell to every other nation as much as 
she can, and to buy nothing from them in return except what 
she cannot dispense with. She has sent out her colonies, and 
extended her conquests over the whole globe for the mere pur- 
pose of giving employment to her commerce, and finding a vent 
for her manufactures; and, in obedience to this principle, she 
has so dealt with her foreign possessions as to place them upon 
a footing of entire dependence on the mother country, prohibit- 
ing their manufactures, draining them of their specie to support 
her laborers, and rendering them mere tributaries to the proud 
island from which her navies have gone forth for their sub- 
jugation. It was this selfish policy which constituted one of the 
first in the long series of grievances which led to the rupture 
with her American dependencies, which ended in their final 
separation. It was an expression of the great statesman, who 
has given a name to the city of Pittsburgh, that America should 
never be permitted, with his consent, to manufacture even a 
hob-nail, and it is a little remarkable that it was this same 
policy which, by draining the country of its circulating medium, 
occasioned in 1722 the first issue of paper money in our own 
State. It is this policy, however, which has made England what 
she is — which enabled her to subsidize the legions of banded 
Europe, and to bear upon her own mighty shoulders the bur- 
then of a contest which for five and twenty years shook the 
world to its foundations. If she adopted it when we were mere 
colonies of her own, she is not likely to abandon it now for our 
advantage. She could not, even if she would, without repudiat- 
ing her immense public debt. But she has no idea of any such 
thing. The notion of Free Trade sometimes preached by her 
economists, but never practised by her statesmen, is regarded 
by her as preposterous, and was so, not long since, pronounced 
by the Duke of Wellington himself, who denounced it as a mere 
chimera, and declared, most emphatically, that it never did, 
and never could exist among independent nations. 

"What then are we to do under these circumstances? Our 
ancestors complained that in consequence of the policy of the 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN 183 

mother country, in refusing their exports, and suppressing their 
manufactures, they were left without employment, and drained 
of their specie to pay for British goods. The same difficulty 
still exists, and will continue to exist so long as we continue, in 
conformity with the advice of the British party in this country, 
to throw open our ports to the commodities of foreign lands, 
while their harbors are effectually sealed against us. We are 
now annually taxed for the support of foreign governments, 
to more than the whole value of our home exports, and more 
than five times the amount required for the maintenance of our 
own institutions, and if this policy is to prevail, we shall still 
continue in a state of worse than colonial dependence, and shall 
indeed have gained little by the separation. 

"What then, I ask again, is the remedy? and what are we to 
do in order to give employment to our own population — to pre- 
serve a wholesome circulating medium amongst us, and to fur- 
nish a market for our own farmers ? 

"We have no resource but to create a demand at home for 
the surplus products of our industry by treating the foreigner as 
he treats us — shutting out his products, and diverting a portion 
of the agricultural labor of the country into other channels. 
We want, in other words, a home market which shall be con- 
venient to us, and not subject to the tyranny of foreign legisla- 
tion, nor the fluctuations of foreign trade. 

"In legislating, however, for the protection of our own indus- 
try we stand in a much more advantageous position than Eng- 
land. The agriculture of our country, so far as bread stuffs 
are concerned, wants little or no protection from foreign rivalry. 
The cheapness of our lands, the inexhaustible riches of our 
virgin soil, and the bulky and massive nature of its products, 
are, in themselves, a sufficient defence in that quarter. There 
is no apprehension here of such an influx of foreign grain as 
will break down our agriculture. The protection which it re- 
quires is of a different description. We do not want food, as in 
England, to feed a starving population, but we want mouths to 
consume the surplus which would otherwise be either wasted or 
not produced at all, and the only way to create and multiply 
those mouths is by furnishing them with employment in some 
other department of industry. 

"There is no other employment, however, than niamifactures, 
which will answer the purpose — the pursuits of commerce them- 
selves being but the medium of exchange between the producer 
and the consumer, and of course essentially dependant on the 
others for their prosperity. 

"But amongst the dift'erent branches of the manufacturing 



184 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

arts to which we may direct our attention, we must discriminate 
carefully between those which are adapted to our position, and 
those which are not. I take it to be a safe rule that, wherever 
an article is of indispensable use in war, or the materials exist 
amongst us for its advantageous protection, we are morally 
bound to employ them. It was not certainly for nothing that a 
benignant Providence has covered the surface of our country 
with forests, and fat pastures, and abundant waterfalls, and stored 
our mountains with the inexhaustible mineral treasures which 
have been sleeping and ripening for ages in their capacious 
wombs — ready to be drawn forth for our use — and we should 
be spurning the noble gift and counteracting the gracious design 
by refusing to employ them. 

"But we are a young people, deficient in capital and skill, 
and above all — thanks to our broad and priceless domains, and 
free and scattered population — oppressed with no famishing 
multitude who are clamoring for employment and willing to work 
for a bare subsistence, and in many instances not even able to 
obtain that. The rate of wages is therefore too high in this 
country to enable us to manufacture in the first instance upon 
the same terms as in the over-peopled countries of Europe. But 
the Loco-Foco process of reduction is not the remedy. The 
genius of our institutions forbids it. The very nature of our 
government requires that the laboring man, so long as he is a 
voting man, should be, not a mere machine, to be fed like an ox 
or a steam engine merely for the purpose of extracting from 
him as much labor as his frame and sinews will endure — but an 
active, intelligent, thinking agent, who shall receive wages suf- 
ficient to rear a family of freemen, and enjoy liesure enough to 
make himself acquainted with those high matters in politics, 
and religion which he is bound to know. 

"We cannot, therefore, compete, in the first instance, upon 
an equal footing with the rich and populous countries of the old 
world, and we must, accordingly, supply ourselves with many 
of the comforts, and even necessaries of life, from them, unless 
we will consent to impose such a tax upon their labor as will 
enable us to enter the lists as a competitor with them, even for 
our own market, upon anything like fair and equal terms. 

"And we must either do this, or make up our minds to get 
along without many of the comforts which we enjoy at present, 
from absolute inability to pay for them. It will not do to say 
that we have the products of our soil to offer in exchange. There 
is scarcely anything produced by us from that source, except 
the single article of cotton, which will be taken in that way, 
except under such an enormous rate of duty as amounts almost 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN 185 

to a prohibition, and even if they were admitted upon better 
terms, they are burthened with the cost of transportation, and 
have to encounter, when they arrive in the foreign market, the 
low prices, and the pauper labor of European husbandry. It is 
a fact — startling as it may seem to those who clamor so loudly 
for what they call 'Free Trade' — that of not less than 844 
millions of dollars worth of agricultural products drawn annually 
from our soil, not more than 70 or 80 millions, (including the 
article of cotton, which composes more than four fifths of the 
amount, and which is likely to be superseded also, at no distant 
day, under the fostering policy of the British government, by 
the growth of her own East India possessions,) is exported to 
all the markets of the world, while the remainder of our surplus 
is consumed at home by the four or five millions of our popula- 
tion who are engaged in manufactures, or other kindred pursuits ! 
During the five years ending in 1840, the average annual export 
of cotton was $64,233,225, while that of animals and their pro- 
duce, and vegetable food, (inclusive of the article of rice, which 
was a large item,) amounted only to $11,766,615, of which the 
paltry sum of $1,474,719, went to Great Britain and Ireland, and 
but $5,353,818 to Great Britain and all her dependencies ! And 
it is a fact worthy of remark, that, on the single article of 
tobacco, of which the export in the years i839-'40 averaged about 
$9,222,146, a duty of not less than $32,463,540, or nearly twice the 
whole revenue of the United States at that time, was levied for 
the support of foreign governments. Such is the beggarly amount 
which we are enabled to sell, and such the onerous conditions 
upon which we are allowed the privilege of trading with the 
jealous establishments of other lands, and for which we are to 
sacrifice the labor of our own citizens. 

"There is then, obviously, no foreign market for the agricul- 
tural products of this country; and, of course, the farmer, as 
well as all the other industrial classes, can neither sell nor buy 
unless he has a market at home. Whatever he does buy, must be 
paid for in money, but without something to sell, and a market 
for its disposal, he cannot obtain the money for that purpose, 
and there would, indeed, be no money whatever in the country. 
"It follov/s, therefore, as a matter of absolute necessity, that 
we must begin at home, and open a market there for the protec- 
tion of our own labor, by fostering and stimulating our own 
manufactures, and thereby at once diminishing the number of 
agricultural producers; and multiplying, to the same extent, the 
number of mouths which are to be fed from the produce of the 
soil. 

"It is perfectly apparent that the laborer who cannot find 



l86 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

employment elsewhere, must have recourse to the earth for a sub- 
sistence, and must become, himself, a tiller of the soil. It was 
the occupation of our first parents, and, when all other means 
have failed, the earth, which is our common mother, must support 
us all at last, until we descend again into its bosom from whence 
we came. 

"But if the whole labor of the country is turned into that 
channel, the wages of husbandry, which are always low, will not 
merely fall to almost nothing, but there will be no vent for the 
over-production, and nobody to purchase from the farmer what 
every man is in possession of, and nobody wants ; and, of course, 
no demand for labor at all. If every man in the community 
is to become a grower of wheat, there will be no market for the 
article at home. There will, of course, be no surplus produced, 
because there is no market for it abroad. The 791.545 i^^en em- 
ployed in manufactures, with their families amounting to at 
least four millions of souls, and consuming annually more than 
two hundred millions of the products of the farmer, thrown back, 
as they would be, upon the soil, (which is already burthened with 
3,717,750 persons employed in agriculture in this country, to less 
than 300,000 in Great Britain with nearly the same population,) 
would add nothing to the existing product for the same reason ; 
and an amount of labor producing annually more than 400 mil- 
lions of dollars would be absolutely annihilated, and our national 
resources, and ability to purchase, diminished to the same extent 
— and all for the purpose of enabling us to sell less than nine 
millions and a half a year of all our agricultural products, except 
cotton and rice, to all the markets of the world ! 

"On these, and other grounds, then, it has been the policy 
of our government, from the beginning, to encourage the labor 
of its own citizens, by a tariff of duties on imports, so regulated 
as to discriminate in favor of such articles as can be most ad- 
vantageously produced at home ; while, at the same time, the bur- 
then of supporting our government is taken from the shoulders 
of the people at large, and imposed upon the consum.ers of lux- 
uries and the capitalists and laborers of other countries. This 
was the avowed policy of the first Congress which assembled 
under the new Constitution in 1789 : it has been again and again 
affirmed and re-inforced, by every President from Washington 
down, with the exception only of General Jackson and Mr. Van 
Buren; and it is the doctrine of the Whig, or American, party 
of the present day. If it was right then, it cannot be wrong now. 

"But the adversaries of the Whig party, those who claim to 
be, par excellence, democrats, faithful only to the cotton-planting 
interest, which is the only privileged class in the British ports. 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN 187 

and from which they have very properly selected their candidate 
for the Presidency, insist, that instead of encouraging the labor 
of our own country, we ought to go abroad, and buy where we 
can buy cheapest; that duties, if imposed at all, should be 
imposed merely for revenue, and without any discriminations, so 
that a pound of coffee should pay as much in proportion as a 
yard of broadcloth; and that a tariff of protection is a bounty 
paid into the pockets of the overgrown home manufacturer and 
capitalist, at the expense of the other branches of industry in 
use amongst us. This is the doctrine of James K. Polk himself 
in his address to the electors of Tennessee ; and it is this which 
is meant by the resolution on that subject which composes one 
of the articles of the political creed propounded for the edifica- 
tion of the faithful at the late Locofoco convention at Baltimore. 
"It is perfectly obvious, from what has been already re- 
marked, that a duty upon the importation of foreign goods 
which might be manufactured with equal facility in this country, 
is calculated especially for the benefit of the agricultural and 
laboring classes, and is precisely that sort of protection which 
is best adapted to advance their interests. To impose a duty on 
foreign breadstuffs merely, would not answer the purpose of 
the farmer, because he is beyond the reach of competition in 
that article, except, perhaps, in a highly inflated state of the cur- 
rency, or on the occasion of an unusual diversion of labor to 
other employments, such as occurred during the progress of our 
public improvements, while a duty on the importation of foreign 
laborers themselves would be scarcely considered admissible by 
a party whose proverbial affection for that class has not per- 
mitted it to overlook their interests even in the concoction of its 
general political creed. 

"The only feasible mode, then, of protecting the industry of 
the farmer and the laborer, is by the imposition of such a duty 
on the products of foreign industry, in such branches of manu- 
factures, as may be advantageously pursued in this country, as 
will invite the capitalist to embark his resources in that way, by 
enabling him to meet the foreign article successfully in the home 
market, and to realize a reasonable profit from his investment. 
Much of the difficulty might, perhaps, be avoided by such a 
reduction of the wages of the American operative, as would 
place this important element of cost upon the same footing as 
in European countries, and that was the remedy suggested by 
Mr. Buchanan, in the Senate of the United States, when, in 
ignorantly assuming, that this great obstacle to cheap production 
was occasioned by an unnatural inflation of the currency, he 
indulged in the memorable exclamation — 'reduce your nominal 



l88 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

to the real standard of European countries, and you will cover 
this country with benefits and blessings.' This process is a very 
simple one, no doubt, and might, perhaps, eventually succeed. 
It would, however, be a fearful experiment for a government 
like ours, and could only succeed by creating a class in this 
country like that which burdens the poor houses of England, and 
one which would be utterly unfit to exercise the elective fran- 
chise. But it is the policy of a mere bungler. The doctrine of 
the Whig party, and of all the truly enlightened Statesmen who 
have been called upon from time to time to direct the affairs of 
this government, has been to secure plenty of work and a high 
rate of wages to the operative. 

"Let us inquire then how the Tariff policy is calculated to 
affect those two classes who are alleged by the Loco-Focos to 
be so especially oppressed by it. 

"To the moneyed capitalist it can make very little dift'erence 
how his resources are employed, provided he can use them to 
advantage. It is obviously his interest that the value of every 
thing else should decline, and he will, of course, hoard them, as 
many of our rich men are doing now, in order to avail himself 
of any approaching catastrophe — such, for instance, as the reduc- 
tion of the Tariff — to command your labor or your lands at a 
reduced price, because money advances in value in proportion as 
every thing else declines. It is, however, the interest of the pub- 
lic at large that he should invest his means in some active em- 
ployment which will create a demand for labor, and the moment 
that investment is made, his position is changed, and his inter- 
ests become identical with those of the community around him. 
Now, a fair rate of duty upon any foreign fabric, and the 
removal of all chances of speculation which is eft'ected by a 
wholesome Tariff", and its invariable accompaniment — general 
prosperity — is calculated to invite him into the manufacture and 
he invests his money accordingly. But why is he so invited? 
Is it for his own benefit? Men are generally prone to do that 
which is for their own advantage without any invitation. No: 
it is intended by the Legislature, and intended most particularly 
for the benefit of other and more important interests, and on this 
point a single illustration will suffice. 

"Let us take, for example, the article of iron, which is one of 
prime necessity. Our country, and particularly our State, abounds 
in the materials for its manufacture. The ore and the fuel neces- 
sary for its fusion and for the generation of all the power which 
is required to mould it into its thousand various forms, are 
deposited side by side in our hills. In their original position, 
though of easy access, they are obviously of little or no value. 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN I89 

But even with this inappreciable advantage, that ore cannot be 
smelted and vi^orked, even into its coarser forms of pigs and 
blooms and bars, at any thing Hke the price at which it may be 
fabricated at the mines of Sweden or Great Britain, for the 
reason that the wages of labor in those countries are scarcely 
a third of what they are here, and that labor is, moreover, the 
main element in the production of this most invaluable and indis- 
pensable of all metals. A little reflection will render it apparent 
to every one that the value of this, as of most other manufac- 
tured products, in all its stages, from the coarsest and most 
simple to the most elaborated and refined, consists almost exclu- 
sively in the value of the labor employed in its production. In 
its raw condition it is worth no more than the rocks in which it 
is imbedded. The labor of man is required to dig it out of the 
bowels of the earth, to carry it to the furnace, to dig or cut the 
fuel necessary for its fusion, to convert it into blooms, to hammer 
or roll it into bars, to carry it to the market, and thence to tor- 
ture and to twist it into all its endless and diversified shapes of 
ornament and use. In all its forms, it is the result of pure labor. 
Every article which we use into whose composition it enters, 
from the plough-share down to the pen-knife, or the watch- 
spring, is but the practical embodiment and investment of the 
energies and the skill of the zvorking man, and the duty which 
is assessed upon the importation of the same article while it adds 
a new item to our wealth as a nation by the absolute creation of 
a new value, what is it but a bounty upon our owti labor — a 
protection to the working man? It is he who is protected in 
the first place, and not the capitalist who gives him employment, 
and even if, as is contended, the duty did come out of the pockets 
of the consumer, in the shape of an addition to the price, it is 
transferred to him in the shape of steady employment and an 
increase of wages. High profits on the part of the manufacturer 
will be sure to invite competition — the tendency of competition 
is invariably to bring down profits, while it stimulates the demand 
for labor, and of course advances its wages — and if the supply 
of labor keeps pace with the demand, it must be drawn either 
from emigration or from the pursuit of agriculture, thereby 
diminishing competition there — multiplying consumers, and of 
course enlarging its profits to that extent beyond any probable 
advance in the wages of husbandry itself. 

"But there is another view of this subject which is not less 
striking and conclusive. The whole amount of capital invested 
in the iron manufacture, including woodland and coal in 1840, 
was estimated, in a Report made to the Home Industry Con- 
vention in New York, and based upon the census returns of that 



190 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

year, at $30,500,000. The annual product, or whole amount of 
wrought and cast iron made during that year was calculated at 
$25,765,330. The number of men employed in the manufacture, 
including miners, &c., was 51,405, and the amount of wages paid 
for labor therein $18,762,990, or about three-fourths of the whole 
product — leaving about seven millions of dollars, or about 23 
per cent, to the employer for raw material, interest on capital, 
wear and tear, superintendence and losses on sales, and putting 
into the pockets of the working man yy per cent, of the whole 
gross amount, for his labor. — But the labor and skill, which are 
the capital of the working man, and which are capable of earn- 
ing nearly 19 millions of dollars per annum, are surely equal to 
the investment of at least 100 millions by the operatives them- 
selves, and shows most conclusively that they are the parties 
interested in the protection — that they are indeed the very capi- 
talists themselves, with this difference only, that their invest- 
ments are not Hxed, but are in a condition to be withdrawn with- 
out loss, whenever they think proper to transfer them elsewhere. 

"Such, then, being the operation of the Tariff upon the 
zuorking men in our manufactories, let us inquire in the next 
place how it affects the other departments of industry, and par- 
ticularly the farmer, who is alleged by the Locofoco editors and 
orators to be taxed so oppressively to pay for all this American 
labor. 

"The establishment of a manufactory of any description 
necessarily furnishes employment to a very considerable num- 
ber of hands. I would not pretend to conjecture the number 
of individuals who are employed in the numerous establishments 
about these cities which are concerned in the manufacture of 
iron, cotton and glass alone. They amount, however, to at least 
5000, and including their families, who are dependent on their 
labor, would number, no doubt, from 15 to 20,000 souls. All 
these people must, of course, be fed, and they are fed — not upon 
the brown bread of the starving operative, or even the happier 
peasantry of Europe — nor upon the mere vegetable diet of the 
miserable Hindoo, which Locofoco philanthropy would substitute 
in this country for the advantage of the laborers themselves — 
but of all the abundance which a bountiful soil can supply. Here, 
then, is a high price and a ready market created at once for the 
products of the farmer, and here, therefore, are a sufficient stim- 
ulus and reward for his industry. If any farmer in Allegheny 
county is disposed to question the importance of this interest 
to himself, let him contrast his condition with that of his less 
fortunate rival, who by his remoteness from this scene of busy 
industry, is deprived of the advantages which it affords. Let 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN I9I 

him refer to the variety of agricultural products which he can 
sell, of a nature either so bulky or so perishable that their trans- 
portation to any considerable distance is entirely out of the ques- 
tion, and let him advert to the prices of produce and the com- 
parative value of lands near to, and remote from these cities, 
and he will see the value of a convenient home market, and the 
advantage of selling his grain here, instead of sending it to 
Europe, to be exchanged for foreign manufactures. 

"But it is not merely the operatives in our manufactories 
who look for their supplies to the same quarter. There are other 
interests without number created by and dependent on our manu- 
facturing establishments, which contribute to swell the population 
and increase the wants of a community like ours. The laborers 
in our establishments have other wants than those of the belly. 
They require clothing as well as food. Hence the tailor, the hat- 
ter, the shoe-maker, and lastly, the merchant, who is but the fac- 
tor, or middle-man, between the producer and the consumer. 
They want houses to live in, and so too do the mechanics and 
merchants whom they employ ; and hence the carpenter, the lum- 
ber-man, the brick-maker, the brick-layer, the stone-mason, the 
plasterer, the paper manufacturer and paper-hanger, the lock- 
smith, the manufacturers of hinges, and bolts, and screws, and 
glass, and the chair and cabinet-maker, the tin and copper- 
smiths, and the fabricators of all the several tools and utensils 
used in the various trades and occupations of life. They want 
books, too, and newspapers for the instruction of themselves and 
their children, as well as the grosser food which must sustain 
their bodies. And thus it is by the aggregation of all these 
individuals and interests— wants multiplying population and pop- 
ulation in return re-acting and creating new wants, only to react 
again in the opposite direction, that a large and prosperous com- 
munity is formed, resting upon the substratum of manufacturing 
labor, and presenting an inexhaustible and ever increasing de- 
mand for new labor and for the products of the soil. And the 
result of this prosperity is soon discovered in the new demand 
which it creates, not merely for the comforts, but the luxuries 
of life. Prosperity invariably engenders wants which are purely 
artificial. In the train of riches follow servants, and jewelry, 
and equipages without number. The carriage-maker finds em- 
ployment for his skill in the most expensive and elegant of his 
fabrics, as well as in the coarser and more clumsy vehicles of 
agriculture and commerce. The farmer is provided with a mar- 
ket for his horses, and for the provender with which they are 
sustained. There is nothing within his powers of production 
which he cannot sell, and thus it is that he is not less interested 



192 



THOMAS WILLIAMS 



in a Tariff upon manufactured articles than the laborer him- 
self, and far more so than the manufacturer. 

"But it is objected that the duty imposed on the imported 
article is so much added to the price, and therefore levied from 
the consumer, for the benefit of the manufacturer, and is ac- 
cordingly so much of a tax paid by the farmer and the operative 
for the support of a particular interest. 

"To this I answer, in the first place, that if the result be, in 
fact, an increase in the price, it does not by any means follow 
that the manufacturer is the gainer. The necessity of protection 
pre-supposes that the article cannot be produced here in the first 
instance as cheaply as abroad. If the increase were mere profit, 
and that profit of course unreasonably large, it would soon have 
the effect of attracting an amount of capital and competition 
which would bring it down to a level in that particular with other 
departments of industry, through the tendency to equalization, 
which is as inevitable and uniform as the same law in the motion 
and gravitation of fluids. The increase, if any, in the price of 
the article, enures in a great measure to the benefit of the laborer, 
and consists of the difference between the value of labor in for- 
eign countries and at home, and by consequence to the advantage 
of the farmer himself. 

"Taking it for granted, then, that there is such a difference 
in the price, the next inquiry would be, is it really a tax on the 



consumer 



"The simplest mode of testing this question is by the inquiry 
how the farmer or laborer would buy the foreign article at all 
without a market for his products? Destroy the home market, 
and where is he? He has, of course, no means of purchasing 
but by an exchange of products. But he cannot make the ex- 
change with the foreigner. No matter how cheap the fabric 
may be, he cannot buy it, because his products are saddled with 
a prohibitory duty in foreign ports, and the foreigner will not 
of course receive them in payment. If he goes to the merchant 
with them, he will be told that the article which he wants to 
buy is imported, and can only be paid for in ready money, and 
he is therefore denied the indulgence of some comfort to which 
he has been accustomed. It is of no importance to him that the 
article is cheap, provided he is unable to buy it. And yet such 
is the inevitable consequence of the destruction of the home 
market. Would it not be better for him to pay a little more for 
the article to the domestic producer, when he can pay for it in 
the produce of his own labor at a price which will more than 
indemnify him for the difference— to buy at $i when he can pay 
with a bushel of wheat, or a day's labor, than to buy at 75 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN I93 

cents, when it requires two for the same purpose? The most 
of those who hear me are old enough to recollect the period, 
when under the operation of a low Tariff, ranging from the 
close of the war down till the year 1824, the farmer could 
neither sell nor exchange his products for the articles which he 
wanted — when his wheat was rotting on his threshing-floor for 
the want of a market, and his family obliged to manufacture 
their own raiment, and to dispense even with the use of the tea 
and coffee to which they had always been accustomed. What did 
it avail him then that prices were low, though his granaries 
were bursting with abundance? The whole amount of our 
exports, as I have before remarked, exclusive of manufactured 
goods, and including the article of cotton, which comprises more 
than three-fourths of the whole sum, is at the present day only 
82 millions of dollars. The amount of the same articles con- 
sumed by the manufacturing State of Massachusetts alone is 
more than 42 millions. Here then is a home market in a single 
manufacturing State, with a population of less than three-quar- 
ters of a million, for more than one-half of all the agricultural 
exports, including the article of cotton, to all the markets of the 
world; and if you deduct the cotton and rice which our farmers 
cannot produce, perhaps more than treble the whole amount 
which we sell annually to those foreigners, about whose interests 
our Loco Foco brethren are so tender. Our annual import of 
foreign goods is about 100 millions of dollars. The amount of 
capital invested in manufactures and the mechanic arts in this 
country is about 367 millions, of which the annual product is 
estimated to be over 400 millions of dollars. Strike down our 
manufacturing system, and in order to enjoy the samie amount 
of comforts as at present, we must import what we now fabri- 
cate, or in other words, add 400 millions to the amount — making 
in all an aggregate of 500 millions ! But how is it possible for 
us to pay .for such a vast amount with only 82 millions of 
exports ? We cannot do it, though we mortgaged our farms 
and our houses, as many an unfortunate man has done, to buy 
foreign merchandise. We must be drained of our specie, and be 
content with less than one-sixth of the comforts which we now 
enjoy — wear one coat where we now wear six, and use one 
pound of coffee where we now use the like number. The surplus 
of the agricultural products of this country, (which are now 
estimated at 844 millions, and are yet far short of our powers 
of production,) instead of being exchanged with the manufac- 
turer and the mechanic for the 400 millions which they now pro- 
duce, would sink in value to almost nothing, because the men 
who now consume them would, from necessity, be turned into 



194 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

producers — so as to destroy the market entirely, as has more 
than once happened in the history of this country, and in the 
end, to compel the farmer to become his own weaver, and tailor, 
and shoemaker, without the skill or ease which a proper division 
of labor would ensure. Are the farmers prepared for such a 
state of things as this? Would it not be better for them to pay 
a little more for the domestic article, than to dispense with it 
entirely, for the sake of finding a ready market and greatly 
increased price for their own products in return ? 

"It has been ascertained from the late Census, that there 
were in the United States, in 1840, 791,545 persons employed in 
manufactures and the mechanic arts. Allowing to each of these 
a family of three individuals only, we have 3,166,180 persons 
dependent for their subsistence upon this branch of industry. 
Each of these persons, it is calculated, will consume, of the prod- 
ucts of the soil, not less than I2>^ cents worth per day, making 
for the whole year, $144,456,962. By the like computation, the 
iron business alone, allowing one more individual to a family, 
because it employs none others than able-bodied men, would 
consume, of the bread stuffs of the farmer alone, $11,726,720 per 
annum. But to come down to our own State, where we have 
some curious statistics on the same subject. 

"The annual product of the manufacturing industry of this 
State, in 1840, was estimated at upwards of 44 millions, and of 
this, the article of iron alone was computed, in 1842, at 
$9,804,930. There were at that time in Pennsylvania 210 fur- 
naces and 177 forges, rolling-mills, &c., producing 178,371 tons, 
and employing 16,664 persons with families, amounting to 82,350 
— in all nearly 100,000 — consuming 2,450,531 bushels of grain, 
and 10,380,396 pounds of beef and pork, valued at $2,669,443 — 
and of hay and straw $485,000 — making a total of $3,154,443, 
without including smaller articles. 

"The same process of computation might very fairly be 
extended to all the population of our two cities and their 
environs — amounting to at least 50,000 souls — because, although 
a portion of them may be engaged in commerce and other pur- 
suits, they are all gathered here and sustained by, and dependent 
on our manufactures, which are the very life-blood of our com- 
munities. 

"But supposing that our farmers could find a market abroad 
for all that is consumed by this immense and increasing manu- 
facturing interest, and could, moreover, purchase the products 
of foreign manufacturing labor at a less price than they can be 
furnished for at home, it is still worthy of the inquiry, whether 
they would not be the losers by the operation. 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN I95 

"For the purpose of illustrating this question, we will take 
the article of wheat, which is the principal staple of the northern 
States. 

"Suppose that Great Britain would agree to throw open her 
ports and to admit our wheat free of duty, upon the terms sug- 
gested at the outset of my remarks. The average price of the 
article throughout the world may be assumed to be about one 
dollar per bushel. In Southern Russia and Central Poland it 
can be grown for from 30 to 50 cents, delivered at Odessa and 
Dantzic for 70 or 80, and then shipped to England and delivered 
there for some 20 or 30 cts. additional. It is to be remarked, 
however, that while the products of manufacturing industry are 
light of carriage, and of great value when compared with their 
weight, the products of the soil, on the other hand, are almost 
invariably bulky and expensive in their transportation, insomuch 
that a yard of broad cloth, costing five dollars, can be transported 
across the Atlantic, and far into the interior of our country, for 
less than three per cent, on the cost, while a bushel of wheat, 
sent back to pay for it, would be loaded with charges, at least 
equal to one hundred. The effect then would be precisely this. 
The value of wheat here would be regulated by the price which 
would be ruling, for the time being, in the British market, and 
our farmers would receive that price, with the cost of trans- 
portation off. If, for instance, it should cost fifty cents, as it 
certainly would, to transport it to Great Britain, and wheat were 
selling there at $1.00, it would be worth precisely fifty cents 
here. If any man is disposed to question this, let him take the 
market value of fiour, or any other article in our eastern markets, 
and then inquire what it is here, or at any place west of us, and 
he will find the difference to be precisely the cost of transpor- 
tation to those points, which will depend, of course, on the com- 
parative remoteness of the producer from his customer. The 
tax, then, upon the transportation undoubtedly comes out of his 
pocket, as does, upon the same principle, the amount of. duties 
levied upon our exports in foreign countries. Every farmer 
who lives at a distance of thirty miles from Pittsburgh knows, 
and sees, and feels this whenever he brings a load of produce 
to our market. He is at the expense of bringing it to market 
himself, and gets no more for it when it is here than his more 
fortunate competitor, who lives within the sound of our Court 
House bell. The latter, however, has the same advantage in 
having his market at his door, as we propose to give the Ameri- 
can farmer at large, by furnishing him with a market in his 
own country. 



196 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

"Our farmers, then, under the operation of this free-trade 
system, could realize about 50 cents a bushel for their wheat. 
The foreigner, however, on the other hand, has the command of 
our market, and may add the charges of transportation to the 
price unless there should be some competitor here, as our farm- 
ers would have in England, to keep down his price to the rates 
of his own market. Three per cent., however, would be a mere 
trifle, which he could very well afford to lose. But the question 
with the farmer would be, not what he would have to pay for 
the article in money, absolutely, without reference to the price 
of his own products — but what amount of those products, or in 
other words, what proportion of his labor would be required in 
the exchange. If a duty of 40 per cent, were imposed on the 
yard of broad cloth, costing five dollars, for the purpose of pro- 
tecting the domestic manufacturer, and that duty were added to 
the price, it would make the cost of the article to the farmer 
nominally seven dollars instead of Hve. But it does not follow 
that because the nominal price is advanced, the farmer is paying 
any more, in effect, than he was paying before. That will 
depend entirely upon the value of his products, or how much of 
them he is obliged to give in exchange. If, for example, he 
gets but 50 cents a bushel for his wheat from the foreigner, it 
will require ten bushels to purchase the yard of broad-cloth; 
whereas, if through the operation of a Tariff, he is furnished 
with a ready market, at his own door, at the supposed British 
price of one dollar, he is saved all the cost of the transportation 
to a foreign market, and enabled to purchase the domestic article 
at the advanced price of seven dollars, for just so many bushels 
of wheat, being a little more than two-thirds of what he would 
pay to the foreigner for the privilege of buying at what is called 
the cheapest market, and buying for five dollars instead of seven. 
It is apparent, then, from this illustration, that the home market 
is always the cheapest market to the agriculturalist, and to him 
particularly, because of the bulky nature of his products, and it 
is for the same reason, perhaps, that those countries which are 
strictly agricultural are almost invariably poor. 

"But it is not true that the cost of the article is even 
nominally enhanced to the consumer, by the amount of the 
duty. On the contrary, the whole experience of the country 
proves that the price is almost invariably reduced by the com- 
petition which is enlisted, and the skill which is developed, by the 
protection afforded by the government. There are a thousand 
familiar instances wherein this fact has been strongly illustrated. 
In the article of cotton fabrics, for example, there has been a 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN I97 

progressive decline, in the face of a high Tariff, in some cases 
even to about one-sixth of the original value of the article, and 
there are some instances wherein the cost of the article has 
actually fallen below the amount of the mere duty itself. The 
duty on coarse cottons, imposed when they were worth 20 cents, 
is 8 cents per yard: the article can now be bought for 6. In 
like manner, the duty on window glass, imposed when the article 
was worth $12 per box, is $4. The article can be bought for 
$2.25. The act of 1842 raised the duty on crockery ware from 
20 to 30 per cent. It was followed by an immediate decline of 
nearly 10 per cent, on the article in England, and the conse- 
quence was a decline of two per cent, here under the increase 
of duty, instead of an increase of 10 per cent., as the Loco Foco 
Free Traders would lead you to expect. And yet it is alleged 
that the duty is so much added to the price and paid by the 
consumer ! 

"The causes of the decline are obvious. So long as the 
foreign manufacturer has the control of our market, he regu- 
lates the supply by the demand, and is thus enabled to keep up 
his prices to such a height as will enable him to realize a large 
profit on the article. As soon, however, as a little competition 
springs up at home, he is obliged to reduce his profits, because 
the supply begins to outrun the demand, and prices must nec- 
essarily decline in an overstocked market. If we could buy at 
the mere cost of the manufacture abroad, the case would be 
different, or if we could keep the foreigner here up to his home 
price, the domestic producer might in many instances get along 
without protection. But he is subjected to an unequal contest, 
for the very reason that the moment he throws his goods into 
market, the foreign article goes down. — The producer of the 
latter can get along with smaller profits, on account of the 
superior abundance and cheapness of capital, and he will even 
submit to a loss for the purpose of prostrating the home manu- 
facturer, with the prospect of indemnifying himself by a subse- 
quent advance, after he has accomplished that object. The very 
thing was done after the late war, when the British manufac- 
turers flooded us with 150 millions of their goods in a single 
year, and it was remarked by Lord Brougham, in a speech made 
in the British Parliament about that time, that 'it was well worth 
while to incur a loss upon the first exportation, m order by the 
glut, to stifle, in the cradle, the rising manufactories in the 
United States, which the war had forced into existence, contrary 
to the natural course of things.' And this is a very sufficient 
reason for continuing the duty on some articles, which cannot 



190 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

possibly be manufactured cheaper any where than in this 
country. 

"It is perfectly obvious, then, that the farmer is not even 
taxed in the smallest amount, while he is so greatly advantaged 
by the protection extended to the manufacturer. 

"But he has other interests than those which have been 
already enlarged upon, in this question. He is not merely fur- 
nished with a market for his bread-stuffs, but he supplies the 
fuel and the raw material, (which is always, necessarily, either 
a mineral, or vegetable, or animal product, and, of course, drawn 
either directly or indirectly from the soil,) for almost every 
department of manufacturing industry, and he has not himself 
been overlooked in the distribution of duties under the Whig- 
Tariff of 1842, for the support and encouragement of American 
labor. For the purpose of showing how far his interest in the 
protection of the manufacturer extends beyond the consumption 
of bread-stuffs by the laborer, let us look for a moment into one 
single department — the manufacture of woollens. 

"According to the best calculation, it is supposed that there 
are about 34 millions of sheep in the United States, worth, on an 
average, about $2 a head, and yielding about 90 millions of pounds 
of wool, worth, at 30 cents per lb., about 27 millions of dollars. 
These sheep at three to the acre for summer and winter, would 
require 11,333,333 acres of land for their support, which, at $12 
per acre, which is considered a fair average, would be worth 
136 millions of dollars. To manufacture this clip of wool will 
require about 45,000 hands, who with families averaging three 
persons each, and amounting in all to 180,000, at a consumption 
of $25 per annum each, would require $4,500,000 worth of agri- 
cultural products for their support, which, at a net yield of $2.50 
per acre for the market, would require 1,800,000 acres of land, 
worth, at $12 per acre, $21,600,000. The capital invested, then, 
by the farmer in this business alone is about 225 millions of 
dollars, and the annual value accruing to him, about $31,500,000, 
while the capital invested by the manufacturer himself in build- 
ings, machinery, &c., to work up the whole annual product 
would not perhaps exceed 45 millions, or about one-fifth of that 
of the agriculturist ! Who, then, is the party interested in the 
protection of wool and woollens? The manufacturer or the 
farmer? I put the question to the farmers themselves. They 
are now realizing high prices for their wool under the operation 
of the Whig Tariff of 1842; and I am informed that in the 
neighboring county of Washington alone the crop of the present 
year will be worth upwards of $300,000. Do they not see, then. 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN I99 

who are their real friends? Will they trust their interests in 
the hands of a Tennessee Cotton Planter, who, with an instinc- 
tive abhorrence of sheep, as invincible as the repugnance of his 
party to the innocent coon, and a horror of all wool, except that, 
perhaps, which grows on the* heads of his own slaves, has 
expressed the opinion in Congress that 'foreign wool ought to 
come in free of duty,' and who, accordingly, as a member of 
the committee of Ways and Means, concurred in reporting a 
Bill, in 1833, for the reduction of the duty on woollens, which 
would have exterminated the whole wool bearing tribe, if it had 
not been arrested and strangled by the 'commanding genius of 
the great Kentucky Statesman ? Surely they will not be guilty 
of this monstrous folly, and still more monstrous ingratitude. 

"Having now disposed of the farmer, let us turn once more 
to the operative. 

"You are all aware that a studied attempt has been made, 
and persisted in for years, by the Locofoco presses and orators, 
to poison the mind of the laborer, and to prejudice him against 
his employer, by contrasting his condition with that of the 
capitalist, and drawing invidious distinctions between the rich 
and the poor. The resort to such an argument as this is only 
another evidence of the contempt which is felt for the under- 
standings of the working classes on the part of those who use it. 

"The men who talk and write thus are most generally those 
who perform no labor themselves, and their very language implies 
that they do recognize a distinction between those who labor 
and those who do not, by no means flattering to the former. 
The Whig party do not admit any such distinction. They con- 
sider all kinds of honest labor as equally honorable, and they 
recognize the sentence imposed upon all mankind in the persons 
of our first parents, as conveying an injunction upon all their 
posterity to earn their subsistence by the sweat of their brow. 
They regard nothing as dishonorable but indolence and vice. 

"We live in a country where there is, happily, no privileged 
class, and where the parcelling out of the accumulations of a life 
of successful industry or enterprise among the children of the 
possessor, without regard to any distinction of either age or sex. 
renders it impossible that ever there should be. All wealth 
which is not unjustly acquired is the legitimate product of labor, 
connected with superior skill, or prudence, or sagacity, on the 
part of the proprietor, or of those from whom it is derived. 
To wage a war, then, upon it, is to assail the laboring man in 
the tenderest point, by dealing a blow at the acquisitions of 
honest toil, and taking away all inducement to industry and 



200 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

sobriety. Our common destiny is labor, and there are few 
amongst us who are able to live without it in some shape or 
other. But if we are to be made only the objects of suspicion, 
and dislike, and invidious comparison, the moment when, by a 
life of industry, we may have acquired a decent competence for 
our support, we must be content to remain in the condition of 
the hopeless sei'f, who counts, with a heavy heart, the wearisome 
hours of unrequited toil — but on whom the blessed sunshine of 
heaven sheds no joy, and to whom the darkness of night brings 
no reprieve. Such, however, is not the feeling of the working 
man in this glorious land. The future is always bright before 
him, so long as he can find ample employment and reasonable 
wages. Dependent only on the wealth-creating power of his 
strong and active sinews, which are his capital, he labors cheer- 
fully, with the prospect of earning for his family a sufficient 
maintenance, and for his old age a comfortable and honorable 
repose. He knows that in the mutations of society which, in 
this country, is ever whirling and eddying like a boiling cauldron, 
the poor man of to-day is likely to be the rich man of to-morrow 
— that the accumulations of years of patient industry are almost 
certain to be squandered in an hour, by the pampered, and cor- 
rupt, and improvident heir — and that the next turn of the wheel 
of fortune will probably bring him to the top. He has no occa- 
sion, therefore, to envy the riches of another. He knows they are 
but temporary, and that he is as likely to be the successor as 
any body else. If any man who has resided here for twenty or 
thirty years, will look back for a moment over that period, he 
will find ample illustration of this in the fact, that the children 
of those who were then affluent are now poor, while the wealth 
of these communities has found its way into the hands of those 
who have been the architects of their own fortunes, and have 
built them up by the labor of their own hands. If it were not 
invidious I could point out individuals of this sort, who are now 
denounced as 'nabobs,' and 'aristocrats,' and 'rag barons,' by 
these pretended friends of the poor, merely because they have 
not been so unfortunate as to continue in that condition. The 
truth is, that the policy of these furious repubhcans, is to render 
all men equal, by keeping them all poor, instead of rendering 
them all equal, by making them all rich. Their process is to 
level downward instead of upward, by cutting off all who 
are tall, instead of stimulating the growth of those who are 
humble. They love the poor because they have votes, and are 
ever likely to be in the majority. If they should ever get into 
the minority, through the benign operation of Whig principles. 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN 20I 

which look not to especial legislation for the benefit of the poor, 
or of any particular class, but to such legislation as will leave 
no poor as the subjects of their compassion, their sympathies will 
probably be turned in the opposite direction. My desire, and 
that of the V/hig party, is to see every man rich. I care not 
how many there are amongst us who are able to ride about in 
their carriages, and live without labor, provided they spend 
their money freely and give employment to those who are less 
fortunate than themselves. I have never been, and never expect 
to be, in that condition myself, but I know that where wealth is 
generously poured abroad, it fertilizes like the dew of heaven, 
and some of it is sure to find its way into the pockets of every 
industrious man. I have my interest in it too, as a professional 
man, because I know that when the working man becomes com- 
fortable, his first ambition will be to have a house and lot of his 
own, and he will probably call on me to look into his title — a 
favor which I am old enough, now, to esteem as a little more 
substantial than any vote he could give me. 

"But there is another view of this question which requires 
to be further enlarged upon. The main object of those incen- 
diary politicians who take so much pains to render the poor man 
discontented with his condition, and to stimulate an unworthy 
feeling of hostility to his employer, is to induce him to cast his 
vote in the opposite direction. And this is the true secret of all 
the denunciation which is so freely poured out upon the manu- 
facturer. They know very well that capitalists are timid — are 
essentially conservative in their opinions, and look for nothing 
so anxiously as for stability and uniformity in the operations of 
the government; while they, on the other hand, find their account 
in frequent convulsions, because they have everything to gain, 
and nothing to lose by them. They regard the capitalist, there- 
fore, as the enemy of the party of movement, and progress, and 
experiment, and they accordingly visit him with the regular 
diurnal storm of their displeasure, and represent him as the 
tyrant and the oppressor of those whom he employs. 

"It seems to me to be nearly a self-evident proposition that 
the interests of the employer and the employed are, for the most 
part, identical. It will not, at all events, I suppose, be disputed 
that it is capital only which can give employment to labor. Sup- 
pose, for a moment, that all the resources which are now 
embarked, in this neighborhood, in the prosecution of manufac- 
turing enterprise, were suddenly withdrawn. What would 
become of all this population — of the robust men, with wives 
and children depending on their labor — of the boys and girls 



202 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

who are now earning high wages for the support of indigent 
parents — and even of you and me, who have never labored in 
that way at all? Why, a pestilence could not more effectually 
depopulate our cities. The morrow's sun would find your houses 
desolate. The silence of death would hang like a pall over our 
once busy, but now deserted seats of industry. The spider would 
weave his web in your tenantless dwellings : the bat would flit 
through the long corridors of your churches, and the owl would 
sing his watch-song upon the turrets of your factories. This is 
no fancy picture. The stout and willing arms of the working 
man would avail him nothing without employment, and every 
other interest would tumble into ruins. 

"The hostility which has been proclaimed against the capi- 
talist, in the same manner as the war-cry of 'war to the palace, 
but peace to the cottage,' which intoxicated the multitudes in 
France at the outbreak of the revolution, but ended in desolating 
the hearth of the poor man himself by the terrible conscription, 
proceeds upon a false notion of the relation between capital and 
labor. It is not by any means true that the laborer is the slave 
of his employer. He stands upon the same platform entirely. 
The wages which he receives are in virtue of a contract entered 
into between two men, who are, as God made them, in all respects 
perfectly equal, and are but the price of the labor which the 
operative bestows. The whole transaction is but a fair exchange 
of equivalents, in which the labor of the operative is just as 
important to the capitalist, as the money of the latter is to him. 
If there be any difference it is in favor of the working man, 
because he may withdraw his services at any time without loss, 
while his employer is tied down by his investment to the trade 
and business in which he is embarked, and cannot afford to 
stand idle without a heavy sacrifice. Labor, indeed, is but the 
handmaid of capital. Though it be the creator of wealth, it can 
produce nothing unless it is set in motion through its agency; as 
capital, on the other hand, can produce nothing without labor. 
They are natural allies, and not enemies. When united, as they 
ought always to be, for the security of both, they are capable of 
achieving wonders, and he who would sever and divide them may 
be safely set down as the enemy of both. 

"There is yet another fallacy, however, which it becomes 
me to notice. I have occasionally heard some of these spurious 
friends of the working man commenting on the wealth-creating 
powers of labor, and from thence most sagely inferring that all 
its products were the rightful property of the working man, and 
all the profits of industry ought to belong to him, and no part 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN 203 

thereof be permitted to go into the pockets of his employer. 
'Look at all these fine houses,' I have heard an imported Loco- 
foco stump orator and demagogue exclaim, 'they are your prop- 
erty, for they were built by your labor.' All this is very specious 
and flattering, no doubt, and it is intended for that purpose. 
But it is as hollow and sophistical, in point of logic, as it is 
pernicious and abominable in morals. These reasoners forget 
that capital must have its profits, which are the compensation 
for its use and risk, as well as labor, or it will not be employed, 
and that the value of the raw material which enters into the 
composition of the article, is a part of the expenditure of the 
capitalist for which he must necessarily be remunerated, while 
the wages of the laborer are, on the other hand, his share of the 
profits, which has the advantage, generally, of being paid in 
advance, although the manufacturer may actually sustain a loss 
on the article. It would obviously, then, be about as fair and 
honest in me to claim the title to an article after I had actually 
sold it for a fair consideration, and pocketed the price, as to 
assert that a house belongs to me because my labor, for which 
I have been paid, and with which I may have purchased another, 
may have been employed in its construction. 

"It may be a subject of regret that every operative in our 
manufactories, and every journeyman mechanic, has not the 
means of embarking in business for himself, and thus realizing 
the full value of the article which he produces for his own use. 
But this cannot be without capital or credit, which is its equiva- 
lent, and which must be first earned, and may always be com- 
manded by labor, and it may even be doubted then, whether, 
taking all the hazards into view, the condition of the laboring 
man would be certainly improved. It is the experience of every 
day, in this country, that while nine out of every ten of our 
manufacturers, owing either to mismanagement or to the uncer- 
tain and shifting policy of our Legislation, perish upon the shoals 
and breakers to which capital so employed is ever exposed, the 
industrious operative who is toiling from day to day in his 
humble sphere, with proper economy, almost invariably grows 
rich, and the richest amongst us are those who have begun in 
this manner. It is evident, therefore, that in this partnership 
and distribution of profits, the employed has, in the end, most 
generally, the lion's share. 

"It may perhaps, be considered by some a work of superero- 
gation to have taken so much pains to illustrate a doctrine with 
which this community, above all others, ought to be fam.iliar, 
and upon which we are all supposed to be agreed. The time was, 



204 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

certainly, and that not very remote, when there was no differ- 
ence of opinion amongst us at least, and when all parties here 
were enlisted on its American side. A new state of things has, 
however, arisen amongst us within the past few years. The 
maelstrom of party politics has swept within its vortex all that 
was supposed to have been formerly settled. Men residing even 
in this community, and dependent for their bread, and that of 
their families, upon its prosperity, have been seduced by the 
demon of party, under the garb of a false philanthropy, into a 
state of unnatural hostility towards even the helpless beings who 
are dependent on them for support. The destruction of the 
American system has become the battle cry of a party which 
professes to be friendly to the interests of the American laborer, 
and strange to say, finds even an occasional advocate amongst 
them, and we are called upon again to rally the wavering, to 
reclaim the disaffected, and once more to do battle in its defence. 
It is true, that in this latitude- the party has not yet generally ven- 
tured to throw off the mask, but the disguise is so thin, and the 
results of any accidental success on their part so apparent and 
inevitable, that I could not but entertain the suspicion that the 
whole difficulty here consisted in the fact that those who professed 
to act with the Locofoco party were not sufficiently aware of the 
extent to which they were interested in this question, and were 
really not Tariff men, and it is for that reason that I have thought 
proper to bring the whole subject in review before you. It is 
impossible, it seems to me, for any man who understands the 
interests of this community, and has those interests truly at 
heart, to vote with the party which is now struggling, under 
the auspices of another Tennessee leader, to regain its lost 
power. 

"Let us examine, then, the respective positions of the two 
parties upon this vital question. 

"The first assault, I believe, on the Tariff interest under the 
present organization of parties, was in the annual message of 
General Jackson to the Congress of 1832. Before his elevation 
to the Presidency, he had distinguished himself by two memo- 
rable letters — one to Dr. Coleman, the other to Governor Ray 
of Indiana, in favor of a judicious Tariff, which had, no doubt, 
a very potent influence in recommending him to the support of 
the manufacturing States. On his accession to power, however, 
in 1829, falling, as he naturally would do, under the influence 
of the planting States, his zeal for the Tariff began and con- 
tinued sensibly to abate until the year 1832, when he boldly 
threw off the mask — openly expressed doubts of the advantages 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN 205 

of the system — insinuated that it was dangerous to the stabiHty 
of the Union — alleged that it was only intended to be temporary 
— and insisted that it must be ultimately limited to such articles 
as are indispensable to our safety in time of war. This, then, 
was the signal for its overthrow. The party in power, ever 
obedient to the mandates of its political chief, who never toler- 
ated resistance to his iron will, wheeled at once into line, and a 
bill was immediately introduced into the House of Representa- 
tives by the Committee of Ways and Means, consisting of Mr. 
Verplanck of New York, James K. Polk of Tennessee, and 
others, under the auspices of the administration, to repeal the 
existing Tariff, and reduce the duties on imported goods to an 
average of about i6 per cent, on the foreign valuation, so as to 
levy from that source no more than about twelve millions per 
annum of revenue. This bill, which would have stricken down 
at one blow the whole manufacturing industry of the country, 
was careering through that body with the speed and the terror 
of a storm-cloud pregnant with wrath and ruin. At the same 
moment, too, the Southern horizon was red with the beacon-fires 
of incipient rebellion: the flag of nullification had been already 
unfurled in South Carolina; a star of our glorious galaxy was 
about to shoot madly from its sphere, and the whole Tariff 
interest together with the Union out of which it grew, was on 
the verge of total destruction. At this awful moment, as on a 
former occasion of almost equal peril, when the stoutest hearts 
in the nation trembled for the issue, Henry Clay of Kentucky, 
ever attentive to the interests of the country, and justly alarmed 
at the danger which threatened our institutions, came forward 
with that great measure of peace and conciliation for which he 
has been so often and so ignorantly denounced. It was a crisis 
which required all the skill and energy of that distinguished 
man. But he was not unequal to the occasion. Surveying the 
whole field around him with the eye of a practised tactician — 
consulting all interests, and overlooking none, he threw himself 
into the midst of the contending hosts, and with one mighty 
hand held back 'the architects of ruin' in the House, while with 
the other he dispersed the overhanging clouds, threw the bow 
of the Compromise over our political firmament, and hushed the 
angry and agitated elements once more into repose. The ques- 
tion was not how much was to be gained for protection, but how- 
much, under the circumstances, could be saved. With admirable 
address, he held out a cordial to the wounded pride of the South 
in the prospect of a gradual reduction of the duties for a period 
of nine years, while at the same time he secured and satisfied 



20b THOMAS WILLIAMS 

the interests of the North by furnishing the home manufacturer 
an incHned plane, of long and easy gradation, down which he 
might glide until the public wants, or 'the long and fruitful 
chapter of accidents' should arrest his descent: and if all these 
failed — with a system of home valuations and cash duties, and 
a pledge that the government should be supported from that 
quarter alone, on which he might safely repose at the bottom. 
Never in the history of this country were the tact of the diplo- 
matist, and the far-reaching sagacity of the experienced states- 
man more strikingly displayed than by Mr. Clay on this occa- 
sion. He foresaw, with the intuitive perception which belongs 
to him in so remarkable a degree, that before the lapse of nine 
years of descent, the necessities of the country would require 
such an augmentation of duties as would effectually protect the 
home manufacturer. He was not mistaken. But, unfortunately 
for that country, the burthen of meeting the contingency which 
occurred as early as 1839, and, as Mr. Clay had anticipated, 
before the manufacturer was injured, fell upon the administra- 
tion of Mr. Van Buren, and that administration shrunk from 
the task of applying the remedy provided in the Act. Until that 
period the Compromise Act had worked well. Beyond, it was 
the duty of a Locofoco Congress to provide, but they were 
pledged to an opposite policy, and they went on borrowing 
money, and floundering through the multiplied embarrassments 
consequent upon increasing prodigality, and endless defalcations 
— plastering up the wound which they had made, and endeavor- 
ing to disguise from the people the astounding fact of a new 
national debt, until their star went down in 1840 into a sea of 
bankruptcy and ruin, wide-wasting and almost irremediable. 

"Happily, however, for the country, in this last stage of 
national prostration and decay, the people discovered the evil 
and applied the remedy by bringing in a Whig administration, 
which, notwithstanding the unfortunate loss of its head, and the 
transcendant treason of his successor, has set the country again 
upon its feet. And yet these men have the unblushing effrontery 
to ask you to restore them to the power from which they were so 
justly expelled, only to undo the good which has been since done, 
and to send us once more headlong down the steep of national 
profligacy and ruin, over which the car of state was thundering 
in 1840, when it was arrested in the descent by the stout hands 
of an awakened and exasperated people. Give them another 
trial for four years, and you will have nothing left but to pick 
up, and reconstruct the shattered fragments in the bottom of the 
abyss below. 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN 207 

"The principle of the Compromise Bill has at length been 
carried out, except so far as it contemplated no future resort 
to the public lands as one of the sources of our public supplies. 
After a lapse of several years of suffering and insecurity, the 
country is now in the enjoyment of a Tariff amply sufficient, 
not merely for its support, but for the protection of its most 
cherished interests. For this measure which its necessities 
demanded at a much earlier period, we are indebted to a Whig 
administration, and to the first Whig Congress which has been 
assembled at the Capitol. It was, however, but the redemption 
of a high and solemn pledge given to the people in the campaign 
of 1840, and though we have been disappointed in other matters 
of grave interest by the shameless perfidy of one of our own 
servants, yet, if we had accomplished nothing else, we have done 
enough, in that one particular, to entitle us to the confidence 
of the nation, and to shew how much a thorough Whig adminis- 
tration is capable of doing for its interests. Under the auspices 
of the Whig Tariff of 1842, the business of the country has 
awakened from the torpor which had spell-bound all its limbs 
and members; the credit of the country has started again to its 
feet; the debt incurred by the previous administration has been 
placed in a train of rapid liquidation ; the balance of trade has 
been shifted to our side, and the currency of the country has 
been improved by the consequent reflux of the precious metals 
upon our own shores. 

"Is it necessary that I should undertake the proof of all this 
improvement? Has trade revived? Every man amongst us 
feels it. Every man who looks abroad upon our manufacturing 
establishments sees it. Labor has abundant employment already. 
British manufacturers and capitalists are coming over them- 
selves and re-lighting the extinguished fires of some of our ov/n 
establishments. Nothing more is wanted than the assurance, 
which the election of Mr. Clay vvill furnish, that this policy is 
to be permanent, in order to enlist millions of money which are 
now idle in the same way. 

"Has the credit of the country improved? A few remarks 
on this point will not be amiss. 

"When Mr. Van Buren came into office there was a surplus 
of 24 millions in the Treasury, and the revenues of the Govern- 
ment were more than sufficient for its reasonable support. They 
were not sufficient, however, for the extravagance and corrup- 
tion of his official retainers. Living like an Asiatic monarch, and 
spending at the rate of 37 millions a year, he went out of office 
leaving as a legacy to his successor an incumbrance upon the 



208 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

national inheritance of not less than 35 millions of dollars, 
including liabilities for outstanding appropriations, and that, 
too, after having consumed the 24 millions which he found in 
the Treasury on his accession. Add to this, also, that although 
Mr. Woodbury, in December 1840, declared it to be his opinion 
that the revenue, under the existing law, would not exceed some 
ten or eleven millions of dollars, Mr. Van Buren and his party- 
were not prepared to meet the crisis like men, but rather than 
pass a law for the increase of duties, slunk out of office like a 
set of poaching vagabonds, who had got there by fraud and been 
detected and dismissed, leaving the credit of the government so 
low, that while the British nation, with a debt of more than 
4000 millions of dollars, was borrowing money readily at three 
or four per cent., an American agent, sent out to negotiate a 
loan by the succeeding administration, was ashamed even to 
mention his errand to the bankers of London and Amsterdam. 
It remained, therefore, for the new dynasty to provide the nec- 
essary supplies, not merely for its own use, but to pay the debts 
of its predecessor. They accordingly passed, at their first reg- 
ular session, the Tariff Act of 1842, and the effect was instanta- 
neous. The public credit rose at once to par; the revenues of 
the government increased to 27 millions of dollars, while the 
expenses were reduced to 21 millions ; the amount of importa- 
tions fell from $127,946,177 in '41 to $99,357,329 in 1842, and 
about 88 millions in 1843; while the exports in 1842, increased 
to $104,117,969, and for the nine months ending on the 30th of 
June, 1843, to $84,346,480. In the first six months of the last 
mentioned year, that Act brought into the country nearly 30 
millions of specie; and, from a return made to the British 
parliament in July, it appears that it had reduced the exports 
of British goods $6,000,000 below any year since 1833 while, at 
the same time, the importation of American goods had actually 
increased — so that they entertained serious fears that they would 
have to remit specie to pay for American cotton ! Here, then, 
are the obvious reasons for the improvement of the currency 
which we have all remarked within the last two years. Instead 
of being drained of our specie, as heretofore, to pay for British 
goods, we have drawn it from abroad to fortify our own Banks, 
and the consequence has been a permanent and universal 
resumption of specie payments, and an appreciation of their 
issues to such an extent that the laborer and the farmer are no 
longer robbed of their earnings, by the heavy discounts to 
which they have heretofore been subjected. Such are some of 
the manifest blessings of the Whig Tariff of 1842, which James 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN 209 

K. Polk and his friends — the alUes and auxiliaries of the British 
Government in this country — are so anxious to destroy. 

"It might be difficult to conjecture why it is that any party 
professing to have the good of the country in view, should set 
themselves to work to repeal so beneficent a law, unless prompted 
by the very demon of destruction himself. It is enough, however, 
that it is a Whig measure to insure its condemnation by our 
adversaries, and they have accordingly essayed to destroy it at 
the recent session of Congress, and would have succeeded but 
for the fact, that a few of them from the manufacturing States 
of New York and Pennsylvania dreaded the effect on the 
elections, and that the Senate was composed of a majority of 
Whigs. I happened to meet, during the pendency of Mr. Kay's 
Bill in Congress, with an intelligent manufacturer of the other 
party, who had recently been on a visit to Washington. To the 
question, whether his party friends in the House were about to 
pass that Bill, he replied very frankly — 'I think not. They 
intended it, no doubt, but they are alarmed at the aspect of some 
of the recent elections: they know, moreover that the Bill will 
be killed at all events in the Senate, and I made free to tell them 
that Pennsylvania already looked squally, and that if they passed 
it and the Senate arrested and defeated it, it would look a good 
deal worse before the election.' Under these influences, no 
doubt, some 20 or 30 of them from New York and Pennsylvania 
deserted their flag and voted, with the whole body of the Whigs, 
to lay the Bill on the table. They have, however, but postponed 
their felonious intent, and in order to leave no doubt of their 
ultimate purposes in the public mind, they have incorporated 
their doctrines (in studied obscure and ambiguous phrase, how- 
ever,) in their Baltimore Resolutions, and placed in nomination 
for the Presidency a candidate who stands distinctly pledged to 
the Repeal of the Tariff of 1842, and who has distinguished 
himself only by his subserviency to party, and his implacable 
and deadly hostility to Northern interests. Are you prepared 
to forget yourselves, and your families, and the community in 
which you live so far as to vote for such a man? The Tariff 
is indeed the great question in this campaign, and the Whig 
party have accordingly selected, with unexampled unanimity, as 
the representative of their principles, an individual who, above 
all others in this country, has most distinguished himself by his 
devotion to American interests. It is no less than the Father of 
the American System himself who now stands forward in the 
defence of his offspring. It is the champion of the American 
free laborer who is now presented for his vote; and to silence 



210 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

all cavil, he is distinctly pledged in favor of that Law, which his 
antagonists, professing to be Tariff men, seek so industriously 
to destroy. 

"It is objected, however, by an Allegheny county Loco Foco 
Convention, composed of men who were a little more zealous 
than wise, that 'the principles of Protection were abandoned by 
the infamous Compromise Bill, and the interests of the manu- 
facturing districts of Pennsylvania sacrificed to the truckling 
spirit of demagogism that procured its passage' — that they have 
ever been opposed to that act, and that its author is in favor 
only of incidental protection, and is therefore no better in that 
particular than Mr. Polk, who is tacitly admitted to be an enemy 
of the whole system. 

"I have said enough, I trust, to explain the operation of this 
much talked of and much misrepresented Bill, which was enough 
in itself to make the reputations of a dozen better men than Mr. 
Polk, and which, in my humble judgment, has done more to 
establish the claims of its distinguished author to the very first 
rank amongst American Statesmen, than any other act of his 
public life. I have shown also, I think, that it was not the opera- 
tion of that act, but the failure to carry out its provisions in 
1839, which brought about the disasters which succeeded that 
period. But if there be any deficiency of proof on this subject, 
we can summon a witness into court, whose competency will 
not certainly be questioned by our adversaries. We have the 
testimony of James K. Polk himself in affirmance of all that I 
have said on this point. In an Address, published by him at 
Columbia, in 1839, to the people of Tennessee, he asserts that 
'so effectual were the recommendations of General Jackson for 
the reduction of the Tariff, with a view to the abandonment of 
the odious and unjust system, and so rapid the changes of public 
opinion, that the friends of the Tariff, and even Mr. Clay, its 
imputed father, seized on a favorable moment to save the whole 
from destruction by a timely compromise. It was the defence 
of Mr. Clay, with his friends at the North, that by yielding a 
part, he prevented the destruction of the whole, and in their 
continued and devoted support of him, the Northern capitalists 
have shown that they are grateful for the fortunate rescue.' 
Here, then, is an answer to the charge of an abandonment of the 
Tariff from the pen of James K. Polk himself, which ought to 
silence the tongue of calumny forever, and to make the cheeks 
of his friends in this county tingle with very shame. But if this 
be not enough, we have the further declaration from the same 
source, that 'if they (the people,) voted for him (Mr. Clay,) 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN 211 

they would be virtually voting for the Protective Tariff.' What 
say you to this, people of Allegheny? Mr. Polk and his friends 
here are at issue. Which will you believe ? 

"But they are at variance with him on another point. While 
in their zeal to destroy Mr. Clay, they have denounced the Com- 
promise Act as 'infamous/ and declared that they have always 
been opposed to it, they have most strangely forgotten that it 
received the support of James K. Polk himself — though for a 
very different reason from that which he ascribes to Mr. Clay 
— and that he is even in favor of going back once more to its 
most odious provisions. Now if they are honest in the declara- 
tion of their opinions in regard to that Act, they must abandon 
him, as a matter of course, on that ground. They cannot support 
him, and hope at the same time to preserve the confidence or 
respect of their fellow men. 

"And now as to the objection, that Mr. Clay is in favor 
only of incidental protection. 

"To say that the Compromise Act involved a surrender of 
the principle of Protection, because it was a Revenue Bill, or 
that Mr. Clay has abandoned his early nursling, because he has 
on some late occasion expressed the opinion that 'we no longer 
wanted protection for the sake of protection' — or because he is 
content with protection as an incident to revenue, is to speak in 
utter ignorance of the law itself as well as of the previous leg- 
islation of Congress on that subject. In the proper sense of the 
term, protection with us has always been incidental. Our Tariff 
laws have always been revenue laws, although the principle of 
discrimination for the sake of protection has been incorporated 
into the whole of them from the Act of 1789, down till the 
present day. Still it was a mere incident, and so long as mere 
incidental protection will answer our purpose, no practical 
statesman or rational man will demand any thing more. To 
make protection direct, it must consist either in a prohibition of 
the foreign article entirely, which would, of course, exclude 
revenue, or in a system of bounties upon the exportation of the 
domestic article which would operate as a positive drain upon 
the Treasury. Mr. Clay, who is an eminently practical man, 
and would not sacrifice the object for the sake of the mere 
theory, is in favor of the combined principle of revenue and 
protection, because it will answer the purpose and will unite 
the country. The whole objection to him, therefore, is no better 
than a mere quibble, which is the result either of ignorance or 
dishonesty on the part of those who use it. The men who say 
that Mr. Clay has abandoned in his old age the favorite policy 



212 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

of his whole life, which he has taken so much pains to promul- 
gate, and upon which the best part of his reputation as an 
American statesman rests, assert what they do not themselves 
believe, and are guilty of a wilful and abominable fraud upon the 
people. Let them take up, if they please, the volumes of his 
speeches and the record of his public acts, from his first appear- 
ance in public life, nearly half a century ago, down to his last 
reported speech at Raleigh, in North Carolina, and if they can 
find an observation or a vote which even squints in that direction 
— if they can point out any two sets of opinions for different 
latitudes, they are heartily welcome to all the advantage which 
it can give them. We have the testimony of his own enemies 
in the South, in every newspaper and upon every stump — and 
first and strongest of all, that of James K. Polk himself — that 
he is all which we, in Pennsylvania, claim him to be on this 
subject. It should be enough, however, for the country, that he 
and his party both stand solemnly pledged to the nation in favor 
of the Tariff as it is, while Mr. Polk and his party are as 
solemnly pledged for its repeal. 

"While, however, our candidate is denounced in the South 
by Mr. Polk and his advocates as a high Tariff man, and the 
Whigs as essentially the high Tariff party, the friends of that 
gentleman in this County, where the Tariff is known to be 
popular, forgetting in their zeal the declaration of their recent 
Convention on the subject of 'the infamous Compromise Act,' 
assert with the strangest inconsistency, that he is as good a 
Tariff man as Mr. Clay, because he in favor of going back to 
the principles of the very Act which they so emphatically con- 
demn. The difference, however, between the two candidates is 
this: that Mr. Polk is for going back to the point where the 
Whig Congress found the duties on the 30th of June, 1842, or in 
other words, to the lowest rate of duties prescribed by that Act, 
while Mr. Clay is for adhering to its principle, by imposing 
such duties as shall be fully adequate to the support of the 
government without resorting to the Public Lands, and is there- 
fore in favor of the Tariff of 1842, with that important modifi- 
cation. 

"The whole question, then, for you to decide, is whether you 
will take the Tariff as it is, and the times as they are, or consent, 
for the sake of party, to go back to the minimum of the Com- 
promise Bill — the order system — the low wages — the unsteady 
employment — the bankrupt government — the ruined credit, and 
the depreciated currency of 1842 — the point at which the Whig 
Congress found the nation at that time? Whether you will 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN 2I3 

prefer levying a tax for the support of your government from 
foreign capitalists, or sufifering yourselves to be taxed to the 
amount of $113,000,000 per annum for the encouragement of 
foreign labor, and giving away your public lands, and perhaps 
paying an excise to meet the deficiency in your ow^n Treasury? 
Choose ye for yourselves w^hich side of this issue you v^^ill take. 
It will not do for you to say that you are in favor of the Tariff, 
if you are prepared to vote with the party which is aiming at its 
destruction, and whose success will inevitably bring about that 
result. I will judge you by your acts, and not by your pro- 
fessions, and I assert, what the very least reflection cannot 
fail to teach you, that you cannot be its friend if you vote thus. 
"But do you — can you, doubt the opinions of the party which 
rejoices in the name of Democracy without regarding any of its 
principles, upon this important question? Will you listen to the 
syren song of its editors and leaders here, when they tell you 
that they are in favor of a protective Tariff? Go to the Register 
of the Congressional Debates. Examine the speeches and votes 
of their candidate, and of all their leading men on this subject. 
Read attentively the uncontradicted declaration of Mr. Payne 
of Alabama, at the recent session of Congress, made in the 
presence and hearing of the representatives of the whole 
nation: — 'We (the Democratic party) are pledged against pro- 
tection and distribution, and if any political hypocrite denies it, 
he ought to he kicked out of the party as unworthy of public 
confidence.' Look at the press all over the country. Examine 
the proceedings of their Convention at Baltimore ; and then look 
at the opposite side of the picture and judge for yourselves. It 
is true they have not ventured to say, in so many words, in their 
Baltimore resolutions, that they are opposed to a Tariff. That 
would have been rather indiscreet at the present juncture. They 
have, however, to oblige their Pennsylvania friends, put it in 
other and softer phrase, by declaring only that they are in favor 
of equal protection to all, and opposed to the encouragement 
of any one branch of industry at the expense of another. Now 
what do they mean by this? Why, obviously, the doctrine of 
Calhoun and McDuffie, and the whole of the school of Free 
Trade politicians in the South — that the encouragement given 
to manufactures, and through them as well as more directly to 
the free labor and the agriculture of the grain-growing States, 
is a Tax upon the planting States whose labor is done by slaves, 
and who grow no grain for their own consumption. These 
States are interested in the decline of your agricultural staples, 
and they would therefore make you all farmers and field- 



214 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

laborers. Their cotton pays little or no duty in England because 
it is needed there for their manufactories, and cannot be supplied 
at home, and they insist that they would sell more of it abroad, 
and produce it at a smaller cost, if you would throw open your 
ports to the manufactures of Great Britain, instead of manu- 
facturing for yourselves. Tell them that they shall have a like 
protection with you, and they will say they don't want it, because 
they are above the reach of competition from any quarter. Like 
the dog in the manger, they will neither accept it themselves nor 
allow it to you. When they speak of equal protection, they mean 
that all articles shall come in — not equally taxed but equally 
free. They insist that they pay all the duties on your manufac- 
tures — your negro cloths, and your grain and pork, and every 
thing which they consume; because, as they falsely allege, they 
have to pay you a higher price for the article, while their staple 
is the principal export of the country, and they wish therefore 
to buy their goods immediately from their British customers. 
All Tariffs, therefore, for the protection of any and every 
department of American labor are, in their view, a protection 
of one or more branches of industry at the expense of another, 
or in their words, at their expense. They look upon the 
planting interest as utterly and irreconcilably at war with 
the whole doctrine of Protection. They say too in Congress 
that there must be a perfect harmony on this question in the 
Democratic party throughout the whole union, or it cannot 
hold together, and they assert that there is such a feeling. They 
want a Southern Confederacy too for the same reason, and they 
desire to purchase the cotton lands of Texas at your expense 
for the purpose of enlarging the boundaries of Slavery, over- 
ruling your votes in the Senate and more effectually destroying 
your Tariff, and they have been permitted with this view to set 
aside the expressed will of a majority of the party, and in viola- 
tion of two of the fundamental principles of that democracy in 
which they affect to believe, to nominate for the Presidency a 
man who is a cotton-planter himself and of course a true and 
faithful representative of their opinions. They are indeed 
strictly a Southern and not an American party. And this is the 
precise meaning of their Baltimore Resolution. 

"Is it possible then, I ask again, that any Northern Farmer 
or Laborer can be seduced into a vote for that Ticket, or can 
so vote if he is really a friend of the Tariff? If he be its enemy, 
let him come out and say so like a man, and his reputation for 
honesty will be safe at least, whatever we may think of his 
understanding. Let him not however affect to be its friend for 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN 215 

the purpose of deceiving others. To be in favor of Polk and a 
Protective Tariff at the same time is utterly impossible. 

"But when I speak of you as the friends of a Protective 
Tariff, what do I mean? Why, nothing less than friends of 
yourselves, guardians of your own families, defenders of your 
own altars and your own firesides. I think I have said enough to 
show that it is your own question — your own dearest interests 
which are involved. That it would be unnatural to be found in 
an attitude of hostility towards all these is most true, but unfor- 
tunately we are sometimes our own worst enemies. The man 
who applies the knife of the suicide to his own throat — the 
husband or the father who swallows the inebriating draught, 
and in the madness of his intoxication turns the wife of his 
bosom adrift, or perhaps dashes out the brains of his own off- 
spring, is an instance of it, and one which strikes us all with 
horror, but even his conduct is scarcely more monstrous or 
unnatural than that of the husband or the parent, who, stimu- 
lated by the madness of party, forgets all the ties of home and 
family and country, and is prepared to sacrifice upon its altar 
his own employment and all the comforts and subsistence of the 
helpless beings who are dependent on him for support ! And 
yet how often do we see this ! How often have I been tempted 
to exclaim, as I have seen the patient, honest, and industrious 
working man in his shirt-sleeves led to the polls like an ox or a 
sheep to the shambles by some miserable demagogue who, under 
the mask of friendship, was plotting his ruin, to cast a vote 
which was likely to consign his family to want and wretchedness 
and woe. Alas poor innocent ! 

" 'Pleased to the last he crops the flowery food, 
And licks the hand just raised to shed his blood.' 

"I have not been one of those, as all who hear me will bear 
me witness, who are in the habit on all occasions of indulging 
in honied protestations of love for the working classes. I may 
perhaps, however, be permitted to say that, being the son of a 
mechanic myself, with all my connections among the farmers 
and mechanics of the country, I am as likely to enter into the 
feelings and to sympathize with the conditions and the sufferings 
of the working-man as any of those pampered and privileged 
families of demagogues, who are the standing recipients of Demo- 
cratic favor — who have never labored, and have lived for gen- 
erations, and make their account in living upon the offices which 
'the dear people' are constantly bestowing on them. Will you 
not give me your confidence then? What interest have I, — 
what interest can I have in misleading you? I seek no office, 



2l6 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

and have never sought any either from President or people. It 
is true that I have been in your service, but it was in a situation 
of trust and not of profit, and no man can say that it was of 
my seeking. I have labored on former occasions, as you all 
know, in this holy cause, but it was without the hope or the 
expectation of other reward than the feeling of an approving 
conscience, and the aspect of prosperity around me. I have 
never been found begging as a menial in the ante-chambers of 
those who dispense public favours either at Washington or here, 
and I have never hesitated to quarrel even with my own party 
when I believed it to be wrong, as the fierce denunciations which 
I have from time to time encountered in all quarters abundantly 
testify. I think I may say that I have never gone out of my 
way either to propitiate the good-will, or to deprecate the cen- 
sure of any man. What interest then can I have in misleading 
you? I have personally perhaps less interest in this contest than 
any man who hears me. But I have a country, and I shall have 
a posterity to represent me when I am gone. To that country 
and to those who preceded me I owe the blessings of civil and 
religious liberty, and all the other high and inestimable privi- 
leges of a freeman, and foul shame were it to me if I should 
refuse any effort within my power to transmit those privileges 
unimpaired to those who are to follow me. We are all embarked 
for good or for evil upon the same bottom, and we must all sink 
or swim together. We are all citizens of the same community 
and therefore interested in the common lot. It is a Loco Foco 
falsehood to say that there is any difference of interest between 
us, because you labor with the hands and I do not. I am a 
holder of Real Estate, and therefore interested in the general 
prosperity of this community. I am a man of business, and I 
know that my employment and the subsistence of my family 
are dependent upon the general welfare. But whatever may be 
my interests or my employment, I know that all classes of this 
community are mutually dependent on each other, and must 
prosper or fall together. I know too that the manufacturing 
industry of this community, is that which sustains it and gives 
employment to the whole of us; that our prosperity as a City 
and as a Nation has been arrested by the fluctuating policy of 
this government; that millions of money are now lying idle 
ready to be actively and profitably invested upon the proper 
settlement of this question in the election of Mr. Clay ; and that 
in any other event — which God forbid — we must all go down 
together, — Farmers, Mechanics, Operatives, Manufacturers, 
Merchants, and Professional Men, — in one common ruin. I 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN 217 

Speak thus strongly too, although I was educated in, and once 
deeply imbued with the Free Trade theories of Adam Smith 
and the Economists of the French School. I never entertained 
a doubt however of the importance of Protection to a place like 
this. My own observation and reflection for the last ten years, 
assisted by the able and luminous speeches of Mr. Clay, who 
has done more to disseminate the true American doctrine 
through this nation than any other man living, have undeceived 
me on this point in regard to the policy of the whole country. 
I would vote for him therefore — not as the man Henry Clay 
— the high impersonation of courage and manliness and mag- 
nanimity — the champion of the Late War — the apostle of Free- 
dom the world over, — standing as he does in point of sagacity 
and statesmanship a head and shoulders taller than any other 
man in America — and even though he were no bigger than the 
pigmy Polk who would scarcely reach his knees — I would vote 
for him as the representative of the great principle of Protection 
to Home Industry, upon which the very existence of this com- 
munity so essentially depends. I could not, as a citizen of 
Allegheny county, vote otherwise without gross infidelity to the 
community in which I live, and an equally gross dereliction of 
duty to my own family. It is all a question of interest to us at 
last. We desire, or at least ought to desire to be so governed 
as that our interests as a people shall be best promoted — for that 
is the only legitimate object of all government, — and he is no 
better than a fool or a madman who will suffer the demon of 
party to seduce him from his duty to himself — who will permit 
himself to be cheated out of his livelihood merely for the sake 
of hugging the miserable juggle of Democracy to his bosom, or 
putting some equally miserable demagogue into a fat office over 
his own head. Parties were intended in their origin to repre- 
sent principles, and every man of good sense and honesty must 
vote in such a way as shall carry out his own views of public 
policy whether he votes with one party or another. The man 
who follows this rule, and keeps his eye steadily upon the prin- 
ciple without regard to the mutations of parties, is likely indeed 
to find himself occasionally in strange company. He cannot at 
all events, according to the modern doctrine that Democracy is 
progressive, continue to be a Democrat without shedding his 
skin about as often as a black-snake. But what interest have 
you in the fate of parties when they desert principles ? 

"There are some perhaps of those who hear me and who 
have heretofore acted with this Southern party, who would feel 
offended at the insinuation that, being laborers themselves, they 



2l8 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

could be unfriendly to the policy of protecting American labor. 
To such I would say, why then continue with that party ? Think 
you in your hearts that the Whigs will be strong enough to 
save you in spite of yourselves ? Or do you — can you rely on the 
assurances of your editors and leaders here that they are in 
favor of Protection when the whole atmosphere of the union is 
resounding with denunciations of that policy from their political 
brethren, and the conviction of their hypocrisy is so manifest as 
to be utterly overwhelming? Would they dare to hold such lan- 
guage in the Southern States? Is it held any where except in 
Pennsylvania and perhaps New York? I will not say of you, 
with Mr. Payne of Alabama, 'that for professing to be Tariff 
men, you are political hypocrites who ought to be kicked out of 
the party as unworthy of the public confidence.' You are no 
doubt sincere. But I will say of your editors and leaders, who 
are perhaps without a single exception, in favour of Free Trade 
and opposed to the whole policy of protection — and I am ready 
to make it good whenever they will allow me the opportunity — 
that they deserve most richly all the denunciations which that 
distinguished Loco Foco has fulminated against them. Follow 
then no longer those false and deceptive lights. Trust not their 
hollow-hearted professions. They flatter you only to betray. 
They know that the election of James K. Polk will be the 
death-knell of the American Free Laborer. They are utterly 
regardless of your dearest interests, and in the sacred name of 
'Democracy' they would take without remorse the last crust of 
bread out of the mouths of your children. Discard then the 
idol which you have been worshipping. I appeal to you as men 
— as citizens of this community — as husbands — as parents. I 
entreat — I beseech you to pause and consider before it is too 
late. If my feeble powers were at all commensurate with the 
interest I feel in this question, I would cheerfully visit every 
workshop and every hamlet in Pennsylvania to give a warning 
to their inhabitants of the perils with which they are environed. 
I would pour the solemn voice of remonstrance and expostula- 
tion into their ears. I would proclaim to the working-man in 
tones of thunder — back from your perilous position ! You stand 
upon a fearful precipice ! Another step will engulf you ! The 
paupers of England will push you from your stools ! I would say 
to the Farmer — Awake from your fatal security. The triumph 
of the enemies of American and the friends of British Labor 
will blight as with a mildew all the abundant promise with 
which a bountiful Providence has blessed your morning and 
your evening toil. The destruction of our manufactories will 



HIS TARIFF ADDRESS AND THE CLAY CAMPAIGN 219 

scatter your customers to the winds. The refluent tide of popu- 
lation will inundate your fields. But whether farmer or opera- 
tive, I would say to both — It is your question most particularly. 
Look to it that you err not in your votes. Be true to your own 
interests: your country will feel the quickening impulse and go 
forward again like a giant refreshed with new wine, and your 
children will rise up and meet you in the gate and call you 
blessed." 

This vivid picture of the political thought of that day, 
which almost carries the reader back to a place in Mr. 
Williams' audience, v^as a great power in public educa- 
tion on the tariff question throughout Pennsylvania 
and the West — for Pittsburgh was an influence in the 
West at that time such as can hardly be realized in these 
days when that great empire, with her scores of mighty 
cities, is now so sufficient unto herself. And as for Penn- 
sylvania, Mr. Williams has ever since been recognized 
as one of the leading forces, dating even from 1838, in 
determining its voters for a permanent protective policy. 
Even the Pittsburgh Post, which could hardly be said to 
have been among his ardent supporters, admitted decades 
afterwards that in this field he "made a permanent 
impress upon his country. He was a leader amongst 
those who nearly forty years ago established as the per- 
manent policy of Pennsylvania protection to domestic 
industry. His numerous speeches on the tariff * * * 
were recognized at the time as the most luminous and 
convincing, and although these speeches may have been 
generally forgotten, their effect remains, and is apparent 
in subsequent legislation."^ This, indeed, was character- 
istic of more than one campaign in his life; he sought 
the establishment of great permanent public prin- 
ciples, not the winning of a particular campaign. 
So in this campaign, the great Kentuckian did not 
become President, but neither his principles nor 
those advocated by Mr. Williams in this notable 
address were lost, as nearly a half-century of national 
policy can testify. They had only to give place tempo- 
rarily, until the great institution of slave-labor, which 

» The Post of June lo, 1872. 



220 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

caused its temporary suspension, could be under- 
mined.^ 

"When I abandoned the field of politics," said he 
some years after this,^ "as I did, after the disastrous cam- 
paign of 1844, it was with the feeling that it was vain to 
struggle against the prestige of the successful party, and 
that the surest road to relief, although perhaps a very 
long and painful one, was through the excesses of 
unbridled power, and the full development and exposure 
of the principle which was so obviously animating the 
victors. For this result I waited with the faith and the 
patience of the aged Simeon." It shall be seen later of 
how true proportions was this faith, and how valiantly he 
returned to the contest when the hour arrived. Mean- 
while, with the brilliant public record of the past decade 
behind him, and at the early age of only thirty-eight 
years, Mr. Williams now turned more devotedly to his 
profession of the law, which, indeed, had not been, as 
might be supposed, secondary in his time or attention at 
any time since he first began the study of Blackstone. If 
his public activities have been emphasized, rather than 
his private practice, it is only because he himself placed 
so great emphasis upon his duties as a citizen above 
those that were personal, and because the former were 
and still continue to be of such overshadowing public 
interest. 

' It should be remembered that the element of Whig weakness as a 
national party at this time was the fact that the southern Whigs controlled 
in regard to slavery, and this caused a corresponding defection in the northern 
Whigs. With all this, however, it is believed by many that only an unfor- 
tunate letter on annexation of Texas caused the disaster. 

- "The Negro in American Politics." a speech delivered in Pittsburgh, 
September 29, i860, and reproduced in Chapter XIV of this work. 



CHAPTER XII 

A Decade of Private Practice, Near the Close of 

Which He Renews His Long War Against 

Municipal Subscription to Railways 

1844 

To retire from public life meant to Thomas Williams 
retirement to private life in a sense rather more true of 
him than of most men. To him who was a born publicist, 
whose mind seemed to supremely value only the univer- 
sals in life and thought, to retire to professional duties 
was to return to what was to him as peculiarly personal 
and private almost as family life itself. To treat it, there- 
fore, in detail, and thus give it public emphasis, would be 
to lend it an importance and public interest in the per- 
spective of his career that, there can be no manner of 
doubt, he would never have given it himself. Some men, 
either from choice or necessity, or both, make their pro- 
fessional life primary and their public duties secondary, 
or, possibly, the public conscience within them or their 
sense of the public weal is secondary in power to that 
which is private. In Mr. Williams the very reverse was 
true, in every particular. His early orations have 
already shown how lofty was his sense of the citizenship 
of the scholar, and he deliberately chose to give the public 
weal first place in his life. Fortunately, too, his financial 
ability, both as to his inheritance and the returns from his 
profession, caused him no conflict with necessity. Not 
that he was a wealthy man in modern terms of wealth, 
for he was not, nor did he desire to be. It must not be 
forgotten that he had now been a prominent leader and 
lawyer already for over a decade, and had practice of a 
high order in the local and Supreme courts of the State, 
and although he was not admitted to the Supreme Court 
of the United States as an attorney until after the decade 
221 



222 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

now under consideration, 1844-54,^ he had an extensive 
practice in the State courts and a practice of a high char- 
acter, both in court and as counsel for corporations and 
estates — much larger than those who knew him only in 
the last dozen or so years of his life might surmise. 
Indeed, he had the practice of one of the first counselors 
of the State, in both character and extent, and has been 
ever since often referred to as one of the cultured, high- 
minded lawyers of the "old school." As has been said, 
however, this part of his career he looked upon as his 
private life. 

Efforts were often made during this decade to win 
him back to public life, but he resisted them, believing 
the time not yet ripe for usefulness. In 1845 signed peti- 
tions were sent him urging him to be a candidate for 
Congress before the convention of anti-Masons and 
Whigs, to be held in the spring of 1846, and again other 
petitions about the time the convention ,was to assemble. - 
He was so thoroughly a publicist by nature, however, 
that before the end of this decade he was again drawn 
into public life in a most striking manner, but still, as it 
may be described, through his professional side, and 
therein began, what has been considered by many, the 
most notable battle of his whole life. It is hardly 
accurate to say it began then, for ever since the first 
attempts in 1836 to get the government of Pittsburgh 
to subscribe to stock of railways, beyond her borders, he 
had consistently fought it, not as a local matter, but as 
vicious, immoral and illegal municipal enterprise. The 
matter now only took on a more formidable and danger- 
ous phase. 

It is difficult, in these days of luxuriant rapid trans- 
portation, not only horizontal, but even vertical, and not 
merely local, but national and worldwide, to realize the 
gigantic cost of it in these early stages of canal and rail- 
way experimentation. For these days were the period of 
experiment, out of which has been created the great 
science and art of transportation, as we know them to-day. 

'■ He was admitted to the bar of the national Supreme Court, on motion 
of Andrew W. Loomis, on February ii, 1856. Certificate among the Williams 
papers. 

' Petitions among the Williams papers. 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 223 

It was not merely experiment so far as mechanics and 
engineering were concerned, but finance and organiza- 
tion and public law as well — all equally crude. Mr. 
Williams had been the champion of canal transportation 
for Pittsburgh and the rest of the country, and when the 
Baltimore and Ohio River Railway proved the plausibil- 
ity of a road laid with rails, and even steam carriage upon 
them, it has already been seen that he was one of the 
foremost champions in Pittsburgh for the rail method. 
He was too well saturated with the spirit of the laws, 
however, to venture off of their well-fixed principles. 
He believed in internal improvement for both State and 
nation, and even sought the State's aid in canal and rail- 
way building — but within her own borders. Even a city 
might undertake aid of transportation — within her own 
borders; but neither had a right to go without those 
borders in quest of enterprise. Let the rail highways be 
built, but let them be built by private means and State 
aid, if necessary. How conservative men like Mr. 
Williams fought for this simple principle against the wild 
craze of communities for lines of transportation at any 
cost can hardly be realized, and still less can it be real- 
ized that for long, long years it was all in vain. But why 
did not practical men resort to State aid? They did, to a 
certain degree ; but it must be remembered that the great 
system of canals, or "public works," as they were known 
in Pennsylvania, had already involved the Common- 
wealth in such enormous debt that by this time her credit 
was strained to the breakmg point.^ 

What was done? In order to understand the course 
of events, so far as Pittsburgh and Thomas Williams 
were concerned, events which make them stand out so 
prominently in the transportation history of the State, 
two elements must be kept clear : Pittsburgh commerce 
has always been the great prize, and Philadelphia and her 
closer friends have always purposed its possession with 
equally great determination. In a certain sense, the 
determination of the Pennsylvania metropolis to control 
the commerce of her next smaller sister at the gateway 

^ Sidney Smith, who had invested in Pennsylvania securities to his sorrow, 
once said he never saw a Pennsylvanian but he wanted to take off the man's 
coat, as Smith felt it belonged to himself. 



224 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

to the Mississippi Valley is almost an epitome of the 
history of this mighty Keystone Commonwealth. Therein 
lies the unique and absorbingly interesting tale of 
the unification of Pennsylvania — Bismarckian though its 
flavor may often be. It is, indeed, the controlling thread 
in the labyrinth of State and even colonial growth back 
almost even to the time of David Lloyd and Penn — if not 
quite so. In this play of influences and forces, if Pitts- 
burgh has tended to assume that she was one of the equal 
foci in a Pennsylvania regular ellipse, the metropolis has 
had an equal inclination to view herself as the centre of a 
circle, with a resultant history that is neither regular 
ellipse nor circle, but a truer and more fruitful Keystone 
oval instead. But Pittsburgh did not always find it possi- 
ble even to view herself as one of equal foci, and that is 
no strange phenomenon — for are not Pennsylvania State 
boundaries artificial things, and are not the headwaters 
of the Ohio Valley — gateway of the West for both Phila- 
delphia and Baltimore — the more natural facts? Here, 
then, rose a most forceful element in the conflict of pow- 
ers, which adequately explains why the Connellsville rail 
route to Cumberland, was, as Thomas Williams often 
called it, a Pittsburgh "pet" and a peril to Philadelphia, 
and likewise explains the phenomena surrounding a later 
contemporary "pet" and "peril" of the respective cities. 
It explains, too, why, so far as political control of these 
matters are concerned, Pennsylvania has moved with 
Bismarckian rigor and aplomb, for she is, in fact, politi- 
cally egg-shaped — the adherents of the metropolis rule 
by the divine right of republics. That this dominant 
power might be at times controlled by unwise, not to say 
corrupt, counsels, to the injury of the minority, or even 
the majority itself for that matter, would not be denied 
by any one. That it was at any particular time, is not the 
province of this account to determine ; the purpose here 
is the preparation of the way for Thomas Williams to 
present his own case, as he has always proved himself 
abundantly able to do. 

After some half-dozen years of this decade had passed, 
it became evident that, in spite of opposition, the Legis- 
lature was to be led to resort to giving certain counties 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 225 

and cities the power to subscribe to stock for building 
various railways over the State in which these communi- 
ties had special interest. One of these, approved on May 
6, 1852, authorized Philadelphia to subscribe to stock of 
the Philadelphia, Easton and Water Gap Railroad.^ 
Another, approved the 24th of February, 1853, authorized 
the commissioners of Allegheny County to subscribe to 
stock of the Pittsburgh and Steubenville Railroad,- and a 
third, which Governor Bigler did not sign, but which 
became a law on April 9th following, permitted Phila- 
delphia to take stock in a road out in Westmoreland and 
Washington Counties, called the Hempfield Railroad, 
as a feeder to the Pennsylvania Railroad.^ The outcry 
against the constitutionality of such laws now took form 
in a suit in the Supreme Court, brought by William P. 
Sharpless and others, of Philadelphia, against the carrying 
out of the provisions of the two above acts relating to 
that city. Benjamin H. Brewster led for Mr. Sharpless 
and his friends, and Olmsted, Dallas, Brock and Reed 
defended the city government. As Pittsburgh and other 
communities were so vitally interested in this case, Mr. 
Williams was allowed the privilege of presenting an 
argument voluntarily, as the voice of all who were in 
arms against the constitutionality of these acts. It was 
written on August 15, 1853, "without the prompting of 
a professional motive and solely from a desire to serve 
his fellow-citizens" — as he himself said many years 
later:" 

"The question of the validity of Acts of the Assembly," he 
began — to quote only his introduction — "authorizing the sub- 
scription by municipal corporations to the stock of rail road 
companies, not local, but almost entirely extra-territorial, and 
extending the sphere of their operations far beyond the bound- 
aries of the jurisdictions contributing thereto — the gravest 

^ "Laws of Pennsylvania," 1852, p. 612. 

=■151(1., i8s3, p. 133. The "State Reports" (8 Casey, 218) quote this act as 
approved on the 26th instead of the 24th. 

» Ibid., p. 356. 

♦ Preface of his "Reviewr" published in 1857. 

Also Legislative Record, 1861, p. 383. "It was not to save Allegheny 
county only— it was to save the city of Philadelphia as well— that I threw 
myself into that case, without fee and without compensation, to endeavor to 
breast that tide which I felt was about to submerge and overwhelm us." 
"Everybody admits now that these acts are unconstitutional."— Ibid., p. 384. 



226 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

question, and, perhaps, the most momentous in its consequences, 
which has ever been argued before an American Court, is now 
under advisement with you. The vigilance, ever watchful, of 
those who have invented this new and formidable device, and are 
interested in maintaining this unwonted power, has not slept 
under its discussion. The companies which are drawing the 
life-blood of the City of Pittsburgh and the County of Allegheny, 
and are substantially without other resources than the credit of 
these corporations, are understood to have been before you. If 
the spoilers were there, they have at least found their way into 
a tribunal where the victim has at least a chance of being heard ; 
and I accordingly appear under the indulgence you have been 
pleased to allow me, on behalf of the dissenting and protesting 
freeholders — resident and non-resident — whose property is thus 
ruthlessly torn from them by crude and unreflecting sciolists, 
for the sake, or upon the pretext, of experimenting on the 
practicability of increasing it in value against their will. 

"The importance of the question to these communities, it 
is impossible to exaggerate. They have led off with the most 
reckless disregard of consequences in this dance of death. The 
initiative once taken, no scheme, however desperate or visionary, 
has since failed to obtain their aid. Already — only, perhaps, 
in the mid-career of their extravagance — they furnish the 
strongest illustration of the fearful consequences and the illim- 
itable abuses of this monstrous power which this Union affords. 
They have incurred by it a debt unequalled, in its comparative 
amount, by perhaps that of any other public corporation — State, 
national or local — in America. With a population not much 
exceeding 130,000 at the last census, they have contracted obli- 
gations, mainly within the last year, and for this purpose alone, 
to the amount of upwards of five millions of dollars ! They 
have dealt in this matter, moreover, in such a manner as, in the 
case of an individual, would have authorized and required a 
commission of lunacy, at the instance of his friends. They have 
subscribed a million to one road, and then undertaken the con- 
struction of two others, involving an outlay of at least ten or 
twelve millions, almost exclusively upon their own credit, and 
for the avowed purpose of holding in check and controlling the 
first object of their bounty! They have thus undertaken, not 
as auxilliaries merely, but as principals, what it is impossible 
for them to accomplish, even if it would pay when accomplished, 
without resources which they cannot command, and what must 
in all human probability, and as I think, inevitably, result in the 
entire loss of their investments. And all this has been done 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 22/ 

under authority conferred by the Legislature, upon the appli- 
cation of the companies interested, and without any request, or 
even knowledge, on the part of the people, upon a few men, 
designated by themselves, who were entirely irresponsible to 
those in whose names they were incurring such enormous obli- 
gations, and without voice or vote on the part of those whose 
fortunes were thus committed to their hands. It has been done, 
too, and justified under the pretext of benefitting the unwilling, 
and enriching them in spite of themselves, and the consequences 
are already upon the remonstrants, in the unquestionable depre- 
ciation of their freeholds, under the gathering shadow of this 
great debt, to an extent which can only be ascertained when 
men can be once more encouraged to invest their means in so 
precarious a property. It is to disperse this cloud, and to 
reinstate the freeholder, who has been thus practically disseized, 
in his lawful possession, that the aid of this court is now 
invoked. It is a life and death question to us. If the conserva- 
tive powers of this august tribunal are insufficient for our relief, 
there is no resuh, as it appears to me, but utter and irreparable 
ruin — ruin which will outlive our generation — ruin, before which 
all transient calamity, even the great fire of 1845 itself, would 
pale !"" 

The court, at this time, was composed of Chief Justice 
Jeremiah S. Black and Justices Ellis Lewis, Walter H. 
Lowrie, George W. Woodward and John C. Knox. The 
case was of the profoundest importance, from any point 
of view. No act of assembly during the life of the old 
Constitution of 1790 — nearly a half-century — was declared 
unconstitutional, and even under that of 1838 only a few 
had been declared so, and those only for clear cases 
against distribution of governmental powers, or restrict- 
ive clauses in the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights, or 
grants to the national government — never on what is 
called a "lower ground" than these — never on the further 
definition of the purposes of municipal corporations.^ 
Even the Chief Justice fully realized, and even expressed 
his realization of the appalling consequences of the exist- 
ence of such a legislative power: 

' Reprint of the argument, a pamphlet of about 23,000 words. Williams 
papers. 

- 9 Harris, 183, in Justice Woodward's opinion. 



228 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

"If the power exists," said he in his opinion/ "it will con- 
tinue to be exerted, and generally it will be used under the in- 
fluence of those who are personally interested, and who do not 
see or care for the ultimate injury it may bring upon the people 
at large. Men feel acutely what affects themselves as in- 
dividuals, and are but slightly influenced by public consider- 
ations. What each person wins by his enterprise, is all his 
own ; the public losses are shared by thousands. The selfish 
passion is intensified by the prospect of immediate gain ; private 
speculation becomes ardent, energetic and daring, while public 
spirit — cold and timid at the best — grows feebler still when the 
danger is remote. Under these circumstances it is easy to see 
where this ultra-enterprising spirit will end. It carried the 
state to the verge of financial ruin; it has produced revulsions 
of trade and currency in every commercial country; it is tend- 
ing now, and here, to the bankruptcy of cities and counties. In 
England, no investments have been more disastrous than railway 
stocks, unless those of the South Sea bubble be an exception. 
In this country they have not generally been profitable. The 
dividends of the largest works in the neighboring states, north 
and south of us, have disappointed the stockholders. Not one 
of the completed railroads in this state has uniformly paid inter- 
est on its cost. If only a few of the roads projected in Pennsyl- 
vania should be as unfortunate as all the finished ones, such a 
burden would be imposed on certain parts of the state, as the 
industry of no people has ever endured without being crushed. 
Still, this plan of improving the country, if unchecked by this 
Court, will probably go on until it results in some startling 
calamity, to rouse the masses of the people." 

Notwithstanding all of this, however, it was held by 
Chief Justice Black and Justices Woodward and Knox — 
a majority of one, of the court, that these and similar acts 
were valid. Forthwith the outcry against the decision 
was voiced by Mr. Williams in an elaborate pamphlet, 
"Review of the Opinion of the Three Judges of the 
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Affirming the Validity 
of Acts of Assembly, Authorizing Subscriptions by 
Municipal Corporations to the Stock of Railroad Com- 
panies. By a Member of the Bar."^ This was published 

^ Ibid., p. 159. 

2 Second reprint of 1857, among the Williams papers. 

It may be noted at this point that Mr. Williams delivered another college 
oration at Miami University, O.xford, Ohio, on June 28, 1854, which was pub- 
lished. As his previous addresses sufficiently illustrate his powers in that line, 
this one need not be reproduced. 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 229 

and spread broadcast. It is a combination of legal argu- 
ment, voice of protest, and propagandists' plea to the 
people to rouse themselves to take measures to cure or at 
least to abridge the operation of this great evil. It was 
so timely and powerful that it was again reprinted at a 
later period in the struggle, which need not now be antic- 
ipated. It justifies reprint entire again, as here fol- 
lows: 

"Respect for authority," he begins, "is habitual with the 
profession. In the determination of mere questions of property 
between man and man, where it is, perhaps, more essential 
that the law should be settled, than that it should be settled 
wisely, acquiescence may possibly be regarded as a duty. There 
are cases, however, where silence would be criminal. Where 
doctrines are announced, and under color of those doctrines, 
rights invaded, which involve the permanent welfare of whole 
communities, by overthrowing the securities of property, and 
striking at the foundations of all legitimate government, the 
question assumes a different aspect. The habit of deference is 
then no longer to be worn. The lawyer becomes the citizen. 
He feels that he has other and higher obligations, than even 
those which bind him to his client. He is called upon to lift his 
eyes from the ephemeral struggles of the forum, to the relations 
of country and of time. Nor can he remain indifferent. His 
habits of thought and observation quicken his perception of the 
dangers which may lurk even under an abstraction. They teach 
him, in the fact that time sanctifies error, and ripens even usurpa- 
tion into law, the wisdom of the apophthegm, 'obsta principiis,' 
and the necessity of strangling a false principle before it has 
been fully developed into life ; and he feels that, under such 
circumstances, indifference would be disloyalty to his profession, 
and acquiescence, treason to his country. 

"These reflections have been suggested by the recent extra- 
ordinary decision of the Supreme Court of this State, in the 
case of Sharpless and others against the City of Philadelphia, 
and will, perhaps, be received as a sufficient apology for the 
review of an opinion which, deciding, as it in effect does, that 
the mere delegates or representatives of the people may single 
out any given community, and authorize their own agents or 
appointees, without the assent of the people thereof, to borrow 
money in their names, and to pledge their property for its pay- 
ment, to any extent and for any purpose zvhatever, has startled 
and shocked, beyond all past example, alike the professional 



V 



230 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

and the public mind of this State. It is admitted by the Court 
that no question of greater magnitude has ever occupied its 
attention. It is conceded that the legislation which it sustains, 
is 'impolitic, dangerous and immoral.' It is even affirmed that 
it may, and most probably will, result in the universal bank- 
ruptcy of our corporations, and crush with its iron weight the 
industry of our people. It is not to be doubted, therefore, that 
it menaces the overthrow of one of the most invaluable of those 
rights which all governments are instituted to secure; and 
it behooves us to inquire into the validity of the reasons, upon 
which the Supreme Court has felt itself compelled to abdicate 
its supposed duty to the people, and to surrender them and their 
fortunes into the hands of the Legislature. 

"There is another reason, however — if reason were wanted 
— to justify this inquiry. If the decision referred to, had been 
the result of an unanimous opinion of the Court, it might have 
induced some hesitation on the part of those who were disposed 
to question its soundness, although its startling consequences 
were such as to authorize an indefinite struggle for the re-estab- 
lishment of the principle which it surrendered. The decision is, 
however, neither unanimous nor final. It is, at the most, but an 
accidental adjudication, by the mere force of rmnihers, upon the 
majority principle, and upon an issue strictly preliminary. It 
would scarce be entitled, therefore, to any respect as an 
authority, even upon a mere question of property. As a decision 
upon a great question of constitutional right, it must depend 
for its permanency, not on the number of hands which may have 
been lifted up in its support — not on the insecure and shifting 
tenures of particular Judges — not on the fluctuating opinions of 
the people, which may be one thing when money is to be bor- 
rowed, and another when it is to be paid — but on the force of the 
reasoning by which it is sustained. In such a controversy, the 
majority principle has no legitimate place. Where the weapon 
is reason, and not force, as in the contests of the forum, there 
is no magic in the multitude of suffrages. Opinions are to be 
weighed, and not numbered, and if they will not bear the test 
of reason, it is morally impossible, in such a case as this, that 
they can stand as law. 

"I propose, therefore, to test the arguments of the majority 
by this standard. They will be found, if I mistake not, to start 
from false principles — to rest on palpably erroneous and heret- 
ical notions in regard to the theory and structure of our govern- 
ment — to be grossly inconsistent in themselves — to involve 
admissions which are fatal to their own conclusions — to over- 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 23I 

look the highest authorities abroad, and to betray a most singular 
forgetfulness of decisions of still higher authority at home. 
And if it should appear, as I think it will, that, from the admis- 
sions of the Chief Justice, his associate (Woodward) would 
have reached a different result, and with the admissions of his 
associate, the Chief Justice must have paid him the same com- 
pliment, it will, perhaps, be conceded that there is no great 
force in a majority result, patched up out of such incongruous 
elements as these. 

"I shall address myself, however, in the first place, and 
mainly, to the elaborate opinion of the Chief Justice, and then 
take up that of his elder coadjutor, in the way of contrast. 
With the opinion of Judge Knox, I shall not meddle, until it 
appears, as promised, in such a state of development, as will 
enable the profession and the public to discover and examine the 
reasons upon which he has felt constrained to co-operate in 
inflicting so deep a wound upon the integrity of our institutions, 
and the rights and liberties of the people. 

"The first of the remarks of the Chief Justice which chal- 
lenge our attention, are those which refer to the origin and 
structure of our government, as furnishing the true rule for 
the interpretation of its fundamental law. This is the starting 
point, and it is a radical one. His whole argument rests upon 
the foundation which he lays here. If he is wrong in his 
premises, it infects every inference, poisons every deduction, and 
overthrows every conclusion at which he has arrived. 

"His theory is this: That in the beginning the people held 
in their own hands all the powers of an absolute government; 
that the transcendent powers of Parliament devolved on them 
by the Revolution; that if, after that event, they had given all 
the authority which they themselves possessed to a single person, 
they would have created a despotism as absolute in its control 
of life, liberty and property, as that of the Russian Autocrat; 
that a portion of this power was specifically delegated to the 
Government of the United States ; that the residue was bestowed 
on the government of the State, with certain limitations and 
exceptions expressly set down in the State Constitution ; and 
that, without these exceptions, the vesting of the legislative 
power in the General Assembly, by the mere force of the general 
words used in the Constitution, would have given them an 
unlimited power to make all such laws as they might think 
proper, and would have vested in them the whole omnipotence 
of the British Parliament : 

"And, by way of corollary to all this, that, while the Federal 



232 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

Government can do nothing but what is authorized expressly or 
by clear implication, the State may do whatever is not prohib- 
ited : and that the interpretation of the State Constitution, unlike 
that of the Federal Government, is strict against those zvho 
stand upon the exceptions, and liberal in favor of the Govern- 
ment! 

"Is this the true theory of our Government? I venture to 
say that it has no support in any American authority; that no 
enlightened jurist on this side of the Atlantic has ever favored 
such a hypothesis ; that it is at war with all Revolutionary senti- 
ment in this country ; that it is repudiated by the highest names 
on the American Bench, and denied by the solemn adjudications 
of our Courts; that it is in flat contradiction of the grounds 
assumed in the Declaration of Independence, and of the princi- 
ples announced in our own Constitution ; and that it is as abhor- 
rent to reason, as it is anti-republican in its tendencies, and 
pregnant with danger to our liberties. This is strong language, 
but I know where I stand, and will now proceed to show that 
it has not been used without warrant. 

"The idea of the Chief Justice is, that by virtue of the sepa- 
ration from the British Crown, the people of this State became, 
ipso facto, vested with the powers of an absolute government, 
which imply an entire control over the lives, liberties and for- 
tunes of its subjects — that they might have conferred these 
powers on one man, and that, by the mere delegation of the 
legislative function, and by force of the general words, they did 
confer them on the General Assembly. 

"It will not be denied, of course, that if they could have con- 
ferred these powers, either on one man, or on a Legislature 
composed of many, they might, a fortiori, have exercised them 
themselves, as at Athens, in their own primary Assemblies, and 
that, under either form, the government exercising these extra- 
ordinary powers would have been equally despotic. If the 
Chief Justice is right, therefore, every State in the Union, upon 
the recognition of its independence, and before the adoption of 
the Federal Constitution, became, by virtue of the Revolution, 
and by way, I suppose, of reward for its struggles and sacrifices 
in the cause of liberty, ipso facto, a despotism; and the majority 
of its citizens might lawfully have dethroned and abrogated the 
great law of nature, and taken away the lives, liberties and 
property of their brethren ! According to this idea, every social 
organization, in the absence of a special contract, resolves itself 
at once, and naturally and necessarily, into a despotism. That 
i?, of course, the only original, legitimate and pattern type or 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 233 

model of all government, and all the rest are mere derivatives 
or monstrosities. The social compact, therefore, implies an 
entire abdication, on the part of every man who becomes a 
party to it, of all his natural and civil rights; and, if he is not 
deprived of them, he is indebted for his immunity entirely to the 
forbearance of his fellows. He is a slave, until he can extort 
from the society a recognition of the inviolability of some right 
or principle. He becomes a freeman only to the extent of that 
recognition, and he is, accordingly, to be regarded in its con- 
struction, in the relation of one who has robbed the State of 
just so much of the jewels of its prerogative! 

"Was this indeed the condition of the Colonies after the 
Revolution ? Some of the States — one of them at least — adopted 
no Constitution of government for many years afterwards. The 
gallant little province of Rhode Island stood upon a Royal 
Charter only, until within the few past years ; and yet a very 
different doctrine was held by the Supreme Court of the United 
States, when a question arose before that august tribunal, in 
relation to the powers of that government and the rights of its 
citizens. Wilkinson vs. Leland, 2 Pet. 654. And so, too, in the 
case of Terret vs. Taylor, 9 Cranch, 43, the same Court held 
the following language : 

" 'By the Revolution the public property acquired by the Churches 
did not become the property of the State. The title was indefeasi- 
bly vested in them by their purchases. It was not in the power of 
the Crown to seize it, nor of the Parliament itself to destroy the 
grants. The dissolution of the regal government destroyed no right 
of property. It did not involve a dissolution of civil rights, or an 
abrogation of the Common Law. The State itself succeeded only to 
the power of the Crown, with many a flower of prerogative struck 
from its hands. It has been asserted as a principle of the Common 
Law, that the division of an empire creates no forfeiture of pre- 
viously vested rights of property. Kelley vs. Harrison, 2 John. C. 
29 ; Jackson vs. Lunn, 3 do. 109 ; Calvin's Case, 7 Coke, 27. And this 
principle is equally consonant with the common sense of mankind, 
and the maxims of eternal justice.' 

"But if the people in the beginning had, in themselves, as 
suggested by the Chief Justice, all the powers of an absolute 
government — inert, it may be, but capable of being exercised 
for the most tremendous purposes of mischief — whence, we may 
well ask, were all these formidable powers derived? Not, cer- 
tainly, from the Law of Nature, because, in the original and 
primitive condition of society, where that law would be the only 
rule, it is palpable, as asserted by the Declaration of Independ- 



234 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

ence, that all men are equal, and no one man has any moral 
power whatever over either the life, liberty or property of his 
fellow. 

"Did it result, then, from the social organization, and as a 
necessary consequence of the social state ? Are all governments, 
not depending on express compact, primarily and essentially 
despotic? This is clearly the idea of the Chief Justice, as it is 
unquestionably the fountain-head from which he derives all his 
conclusions, and the ground upon which he rules this case. 
That it favors despotism, and must result, if carried out, in the 
destruction of every free government on earth, is not to be 
doubted by anybody. But how does he make it out? Is it a 
necessary result of the creation of a law-making power? Do 
the objects and purposes of the social state infer any such 
necessity? What are those objects? Does any one doubt else- 
where, at this day — can any one doubt here, in the face of the 
reiterated and authentic declarations upon that point, that they 
are to protect the natural rights of the individual, and thereby 
to secure his happiness? Is it necessary, then, to effect this 
object, that he should make a holocaust of all those rights, and 
surrender them into the common treasury of power, to be doled 
and parceled out again by the supreme authority, in such 
measure, either stinted or otherwise, as it may think proper: 
that, like King John of England, in his dealings with the Pope, 
he should surrender his dominions to his temporal superior, 
whether King or Legislature, and then go down on his knees to 
accept a new investiture, and do homage therefor, as of the 
bounty of the sovereign? Would the law-making power be 
ineffective to accomplish all its legitimate purposes, unless it 
were uncontrollable, absolute and supreme? Why should it be 
so? Will it be said that the reservation of those rights which 
governments are especially designed to secure, is inconsistent 
with the idea of all government? If it be, then all government 
is impracticable for what are the only legitimate purposes of its 
institution ! It is not necessary, therefore, that such a power 
should exist in order to accomplish the object; and if not 
necessary, it is demonstrably clear that it did not pass upon 
that footing — as it is equally clear that it would be anything but 
wise to confer, what was much better calculated to defeat than 
to subserve the general purpose. 

"The idea of a free Government — and it is. in our view, 
the only correct idea of all government — is, that it involves the 
surrender of just so much of the natural rights of the individual, 
as is essential to the protection of the natural rights of all ; and 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 235 

it is clearly not to be presumed that he intended to surrender 
anything more, unless he has said so, or unless it be essential 
to the main purpose. In either case, however, it would stand 
upon his own assent, either express or implied. The former is 
out of the question; and the latter cannot be shown, because 
the ground of necessity is palpably wanting. What, then, 
becomes of the ruling idea of the Chief Justice — the idea of 
absolute power in the community? It has not a foot to stand 
upon. 

"Nor has this doctrine ever had any respectable support 
from any quarter on this side of the Atlantic. It is true, that 
some equally wild notions in regard to the power of the people 
in convention, were broached in different parts of this State, 
about the time of the election of Delegates to amend its Con- 
stitution in 1836. It was asserted on that occasion, by one or 
two individuals only, that the Convention then about to assemble, 
might repeal charters, enact a code of laws as bloody as those 
of Draco, and perform divers other feats not less extraordinary ; 
but the people took the alarm, and the men who entertained these 
opinions, though highly respectable in point of character and 
ability, were not favored with the opportunity of experimenting 
in that way. The Convention resulted only in an abridgment 
of the governmental power, and the opinions referred to have 
slumbered in merited oblivion, until drawn forth and re-indorsed 
by the present Chief Justice of this State. If they shall prevail 
with the people, under newer and more favorable auspices, we 
may have another Convention, by and by, to do what the last 
one omitted — under the old-fashioned impression, that it could 
not be done — perhaps to divest the rights of the minority, and 
to transfer their property to the dominant party. 

"Is it true, then, that the people could have created a despot- 
ism, and would have created it by a general grant of the legisla- 
tive power either to a single person, or to the General Assembly ? 

"We have shown that no such absolute power, as is claimed 
for the people, could have belonged to them, either on the 
footing of the natural law, or on any presumption of consent 
arising out of the necessities of the social state. But this is not 
all. We are now prepared to show that the people of this State 
could not, even with the common consent, by virtue of any 
moral power which resided in their concurrent and unanimous 
wills, have created a despotism as absolute as that of Russia; 
and that they zvould not have created it, by a general and 
unqualified grant of the legislative power, either to a single 
person, or to the General Assembly. 



236 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

"The authority to create such a Government as is described, 
involves, necessarily, the power on the part of the individual 
to abdicate all his natural rights, and to degrade himself into a 
slave. The idea is derived most probably from the notion that 
every man is lord over himself, and that the power of the society 
is no more than the expression of the collective will, whether 
signified by the common voice, or by the voice of a mere 
majority. It is not true, however, that either the individual, or 
the community speaking for him, and holding, of course, no 
larger powers than he can confer himself, could, by any valid 
compact, surrender to any man or to any government, the entire 
control over his life, liberty and property, which are the gifts of 
Providence, for his own uses, and not his to be squandered with 
the prodigality of a thriftless heir. If the Chief Justice of 
Pennsylvania himself, were called on to pass upon a contract, 
by which any man in this country had undertaken to barter 
away either his life or liberty, or his right of acquiring, and 
enjoying what he acquired, he would be obliged to say that it 
was not obligatory on the contracting party. He would be con- 
strained to declare that there was no consideration which would 
be adequate to sustain it ; and he would be apt to affirm, with the 
emphasis which he knows so well how to employ, that the man 
who had made himself a slave, by the surrender of all his 
natural rights to a single person — as it is now asserted he may do 
— stood absolved, in the sight of God and man, from all obliga- 
tion of obedience to the master, for whose benefit he had been 
guilty of the moral treason of abdicating his manhood, and sur- 
rendering the priceless jewels of his natural inheritance. It is 
not to be denied by anybody at the present day, that there are 
certain rights pertaining to every man, which are, in their very 
nature, inalienable. The Declaration of Independence, which is 
the authentic exponent of the causes of our Revolution, and the 
principles which that Revolution established, declares in its 
very first paragraph, as a 'self-evident truth,' 'that all men are 
created equal, and are endowed by their Maker with certain 
inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit 
of happiness ; and that to secure these, governments were insti- 
tuted amongst men.' Chief Justice Black declares that there 
are no 'inalienable rights' whatever, and that, by force of the 
very organization of a government, those which are so denomi- 
nated, are, ipso facto, surrendered ! But the contradiction does 
not stop here. The Constitution of Pennsylvania enumerates, 
with equal emphasis, among 'the great, general and essential 
principles of liberty and free government,' the rights of life, 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 237 

liberty and property, as 'inherent and indefeasible.' Chief Jus- 
tice Black sets out with the antagonist opinion, as his postulate, 
and declares that the people of Pennsylvania might have sur- 
rendered the whole of them into the hands of a single man, 
and that they did surrender them to one hundred and thirty- 
three of their servants, by the mere general grant of the legisla- 
tive power ! ! If the Chief Justice is right, the 'self-evident 
truths' of the Declaration are a lie, and the 'inherent and inde- 
feasible rights' of the Constitution, are defeasible by the merest 
implication! It is his privilege, perhaps, to dissent from the 
axiomatic enunciations of the immortal Charter, whose every 
principle was baptized in the blood of the Revolution, but it 
is most respectfully submitted, that he is not at liberty even to 
question any one principle which is announced as 'a great, gen- 
eral and essential principle of liberty and free government,' in 
order 'that it may be recognized and established,' in the written 
pages of our State Constitution. That Constitution is his law, 
as well as ours. If he cannot add to it, as he alleges, it is equally 
certain that he cannot take anything away. 

"It is clear, therefore, not only on principle, but on authority, 
which the Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, at least, is not at 
liberty to question, that the people of this State could not have 
established a valid government such as he describes. But, to 
give him every possible advantage in the argument, we will 
suppose, for the present, that they could; and then inquire 
whether they would or did, by force and virtue of the mere 
general grant of the legislative power. 

"It is to be considered, in the first place, that the idea of 
such a government involves, as stated by the Chief Justice 
himself, the entire control over life, liberty and property, and of 
course the unquestionable power of divesting all rights, and 
abrogating all contracts, even the most sacred; and that the 
question, therefore, is, whether all these powers were conveyed 
by virtue of the general grant, except so far as it may have 
been restrained by the previous grant to the general Government. 

"To establish this heretical proposition, it is necessary, in 
giving a construction to the grant, to discard the common sense 
rule, of resorting to the evident intent and meaning of the 
parties, and to adopt the exploded and unreasonable maxim, 
that a grant is always to be taken most strongly against the 
grantor. If this were, however, a sound rule of interpreta- 
tion in the case of a Constitution, it would not be applicable 
here, because there is another rule which supersedes it — and 
that is, that in grants by the Sovereign, nothing is to be taken 



238 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

by construction, and nothing passes but what is expressly named. 
The Enghsh books are full of authority on this point. 2 Black. 
Com. 347; 5 Rob. Adm. R. 182. The reported decisions of our 
own State are to the like effect: Monongahela Co. vs. Coon, 
6 W. & S. 113; Mayor of Allegheny vs. Ohio and Pennsylvania 
Rail Road Co. 2 Casey, 360; and the same doctrine is affirmed 
by the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of the 
Providence Bank vs. Billings, 4 Pet. 514, and in the memorable 
case of the Charles River and Warren Bridge Companies, 11 
Peters, 420, wherein it was solemnly held, after the fullest con- 
sideration, that in a grant by the Legislature, a right which 
was essential to the protection of the grantee, could not be 
construed to pass by implication. In the case we are now con- 
sidering, the grant was by the Sovereign — which is only another 
name for the people — and the rights claimed are, as already 
shown, not essential even to the admitted purposes of the grant. 

"But that is not all. In the case referred to, the grant was 
absolute and to a third person — a contract made upon sufficient 
consideration, and therefore irrevocable. In this case, the grant 
is but a delegation — a mere power of attorney — made for the 
benefit, not of the grantee, but of the grantor — and revocable 
at his will and pleasure. If, therefore, nothing passed by impli- 
cation, under any sound rule of construction, in that case, 
nothing, a mnlto fortiori, could pass by implication or construc- 
tion in this; and nothing, certainly, under any imaginable rule, 
which was unnecessary to accomplish the object, or was, in any 
way, calculated to defeat it. 

"The doctrine of the Chief Justice, however, is that, by the 
mere vesting of the legislative power, the very rights were 
surrendered, which it was the declared purpose of the grant 
to secure — that, under a power to make laws for a specified 
purpose, the authority vested of making all laws which they 
might think proper; and that, by virtue of the general phrase- 
ology, all those rights were absolutely aliened, which, by the 
express language of the Declaration of Independence, and our 
own Declaration of Rights, were declared to be inalienable ! 

"The mistake of the Chief Justice, in regard to the effect 
of such a grant, arises out of the erroneous notion that there is 
in every government a supreme and uncontrollable power resid- 
ing somewhere, and that it must, of necessity, be lodged in the 
Legislature, because the business of the law-making power is 
the highest of all the functions of government. The idea is 
obviously borrowed from the remark of the great English Com- 
mentator, that sovereignty and legislation are convertible terms. 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 239 

We are not, however, to be mislead, in a fundamental question 
of this sort, by false analogies. The doctrine may be true, as 
regards the British Constitution, where the Parliament is 
affirmed by him to be omnipotent, while the people are entirely 
unknown, and the sovereignty must, as a consequence of that 
supreme or transcendental power, necessarily reside with it. If 
the Constitution of that kingdom depends only on Acts of Parlia- 
ment, and immemorial usages, and its Legislature may abolish 
customs, abrogate laws, uncrown the King, change the order of 
succession, alter the very structure of the Government, and do 
any thing, in short, which is not absolutey impossible, it is, in 
point of fact, supreme, and legislation and sovereignty are in 
effect the same thing. Not so, however, with us. There are 
many of these things which no American Legislature can do. 
The people are the sovereigns here, and their Legislatures only 
delegates acting under a restricted authority. With us, there- 
fore, the terms are not convertible, as they are denied to be, 
upon high authority, even in England. The Government here 
is not the master, but the servant. It exists, not for its own 
sake, but for that of the people, to whom it is subordinate. It 
is but a means to an end, and when it ceases to answer its pur- 
pose, the people can change it. The law-making power is not, 
therefore, supreme, i Story's Com. sees. 207-8; Taylor vs. 
Porter, 4 Hill, 147; 2 Dall. 471-2. The Constitution is above it, 
and so are those who made both. When we speak, therefore, 
of 'vesting' the 'legislative power,' we mean the power to make 
such laws only as do not interfere with any of those rights 
which the Government was intended to secure, and such only 
as are necessary to establish that security. 

"The remarks of John Quincy Adams, in his oration of 
July 4, 1 83 1, cited by Judge Story, in a note to section 208 of his 
Commentaries, are so much to the purpose that I cannot avoid 
quoting them: 

" 'It is not true, that there must reside in all governments an 
absolute, uncontrollable, irresistible and despotic power ; nor is such 
power in any manner essential to sovereignty. Uncontrollable power 
exists in no government on earth. The sternest despotisms in any 
region, and in every age of the world, are and have been under per- 
petual control. Unlimited power belongs not to man; and rotten 
will be the foundation of every government leaning upon such a 
maxim for its support. Least of all can it be predicated of a gov- 
ernment professing to be founded upon an original compact. The 
pretense of an absolute, irresistible, despotic power, existing in every 
government somewhere, is incompatible with the first principles of 
natural right.' 



240 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

"The conclusion of the Chief Justice is, however, met 
practically and unanswerably by the fact, that in the Constitu- 
tions of several of the States of this Union — as well as in Rhode 
Island, where there was no Constitution at all — no declarations 
of rights were , embodied at all, and that these declarations 
were omitted, for the reason suggested by Judge Nelson, in the 
case of The People vs. Morris, 13 Wend. 328, that they tended 
only to weaken, by enumeration, the rights always understood 
to be reserved, by giving color to usurpation on the footing 
of the omissions, and thereby furnishing apologies to ingenious 
Judges, for excusing legislative encroachments on the rights 
of the people. They came out of the Revolution free, and with 
the liberties of British subjects, not lost, as our Chief Justice 
supposes, but re-conquered and re-established by that struggle; 
and it was not imagined by any body at that period, that in 
creating a Legislature, as the mere organ of their will, they were 
creating for themselves a master, and surrendering to that 
master the very rights for which they had been contending. 
They had another reason, moreover, for the omission, which 
was equally pertinent, and is well enforced in the papers of 
'The Federalist;' and that was, that Bills of Rights, being in 
the nature of abridgments of the prerogative, and concessions 
extorted from the Crown, would be out of place in a government 
where the people, being themselves the sovereigns, required no 
reservations for their security. (No. 84.) 

"The doctrine of the Supreme Court of the United States 
upon the unwritten Constitution of Rhode Island, may be con- 
sidered, however, an authoritative adjudication upon the very 
question which we are examining, and is as utterly destructive 
of the theory of the Chief Justice as are the Declaration of 
Independence and our own Declaration of Rights. The late 
eminent Judge Story, in delivering the opinion of the Court in 
that case, says: 

" ' Rhode Island is the only State in the Union which has not a 
written Constitution of government, containing its fundamental laws 
and institutions. Until the Revolution, it was governed by a Charter 
of Charles II. That charter has never been abrogated, and, except 
so far as it has been modified to meet the exigencies of the Revolu- 
tion, may be considered now a fundamental law. By that Charter, 
the power to make laws is granted to the General Assembly in the 
most ample manner, "so as such laws be not contrary and repugnant 
unto, but as near as may be agreeable to the laws, &c. of England, 
considering the nature and constitution of the place and people 
there." What the true extent of the power thus granted is, must be 
open to explanation, as well by usage as by construction of the 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 24I 

terms in which it is given. In a government professing to regard 
the great rights of personal liberty and of property, and which is 
required to legislate in subordination to the general laws of England, 
it would not lightly be presumed that the great principles of Magna 
Charta were to be disregarded, or that the estates of its subjects 
were liable to be taken away without trial, without notice, and with- 
out offense. Even if such authority could be deemed to have been 
confided by the Charter to the General Assembly of Rhode Island 
as an exercise of transcendental authority, before the Revolution, it 
can scarcely be imagined that that great event could have left the 
people of that State subjected to its uncontrolled and arbitrary exer- 
cise. That government can scarcely be deemed free, where the 
rights of property are left solely dependent upon the will of a 
legislative body, without any restraint. The fundamental maxims 
of a free government seem to require that the rights of personal lib- 
erty and private property should be held sacred. At least, no Court 
of Justice in this country zvould be warranted in assuming that the 
power to violate and disregard than — a pozver so repugnant to the 
common principles of justice and civil liberty — lurked under any 
general grant of legislative authority, or ought to be implied from 
any general expressions of the will of the people. The people ought 
not to be presumed to part with rights so vital to their security and 
well-being, without very strong and direct expressions of such an 
intention. In Terret vs. Taylor, 9 Cranch, 43, it was held by this 
Court, that a grant or title to lands, once made by the Legislature to 
any person, was irrevocable, and that a different doctrine is utterly 
inconsistent with the great and fundamental principles of a Repub- 
lican Government, and with the right of the citizens to the free enjoy- 
ment of their property, lawfully acquired. We know of no case in 
which a legislative act to transfer the property of A to B, without his 
consent, has ever been held to be a constitutional exercise of legis- 
lative power, in any State in the Union. On the contrary, it has been 
constantly resisted, as inconsistent with just principles, by every 
judicial tribunal in which it has been attempted to be enforced. We 
are not prepared, therefore, to admit that the people of Rhode Island 
have ever delegated to their Legislature the power to divest the 
vested rights of property, and transfer them without the assent of 
the parties. The counsel for the plaintiff themselves have admitted 
that tliey cannot contend for any such doctrine. JVilkinson vs. 
Leland, 2 Pet. 657-8.' 

"In the case of Terret vs. Taylor, which has been already- 
cited, the same Court holds this emphatic language : 

" 'That the Legislature can repeal statutes creating private cor- 
porations, or confirming to them property already acquired under the 
faith of previous laws, and by such repeal can vest the property in 
the State, or dispose of it to such purposes as they please, without the 
consent or default of the corporators, we are not prepared to admit. 



242 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

And we think ourselves standing on the principles of natural justice, 
upon the fundamental law of every free government, upon the spirit 
and letter of the Constitution of the United States, and upon the 
decisions of most respectable judicial tribunals, in resisting such doc- 
trine.' 

"The opinion of the Supreme Court of New York, in the 
case of The People vs. Morris, (13 Wend. 328,) is, if possible, 
still more to the purpose. Justice Nelson, now one of the 
Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, in delivering 
that opinion, says : 

" 'The only limitation to the powers of the legislative department 
that can exist, must be found either in the Constitution of the United 
States, or of this State, or in the natural and inherent rights of 
the citizens, which they cannot part with, or be deprived of by the 
society to which they belong. The latter qualification is undefined, 
and, perhaps, undefinable by any general code, having a just regard 
to the security of these rights. Some of the Constitutions of the 
States contain a declaration of these powers, and some, also, declare 
(and all are, no doubt, so to be understood,) that the enumeration 
shall not be construed as denying or impairing others retained by the 
people. We have no Bill of Rights, though many of the principles 
usually found in such an instrument are incorporated in the provis- 
ions of the Constitution. The enumeration was designedly omitted, 
because unnecessary, and tending to weaken, if not endanger, those 
unnoticed. The limitation or qualification in this respect, must 
depend upon the enlightened wisdom and discretion of the Legisla- 
ture, and the decisions of the judicial department. It is now con- 
sidered an universal and fundamental proposition in every well reg- 
ulated and properly administered government, whether embodied in 
a constitutional form or not, that private property cannot be taken 
for strictly private purposes at all, nor for public purposes, without 
a just compensation; and that the obligation of contracts cannot be 
abrogated or essentially impaired. These and other vested rights of 
the citizen, are held sacred and inviolable, even against the plenitude 
of power of the legislative department.' 

"The same Court, in a more recent case, -{Taylor vs. Porter, 
4 Hill, 147,) speak in this wise : 

" 'The owner of the land over which the road is laid, has not lost 
the entire fee, but he has lost the beneficial use and enjoyment of his 
property forever. It is not material, however, to inquire what 
quantum of interest has passed from him. It is enough that some 
interest — some portion of his estate, no matter how small — has been 
taken from him, without his consent. The property of A is taken 
without his permission, and transferred to B. Can such a thing be 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 243 

rightfully done? Has the Legislature any power to say it may be 
done ? 

" "The right to take private property for public purposes is one of 
the inherent attributes of sovereignty, and exists in every inde- 
pendent government. But even this right of eminent domain, cannot 
be exercised, without making just compensation to the owner of the 
property ; and thus, what would otherwise be a burden upon a single 
individual, has been made to fall equally upon every member of the 
State. But there is no provision in the Constitution that just com- 
pensation shall be made to the owner when his property is taken for 
private purposes; and if the power exists to take the property of one 
man, without his consent, and transfer it to another, it may be exer- 
cised without any reference to the question of compensation. 
The power of making bargains for individuals has not been delegated 
to any branch of the government; and if the title of A can, without 
his fault, be transferred to B, it may as well be done without, as 
with compensation. This view of the question is sufficient to put us 
upon the inquiry, where can the power be found to pass such a law 
as that under which the defendants attempt to justify their entry 
upon the plaintiff's land? It is not to be presumed that such a power 
exists ; and they zvho set it up, should tell where it is to be found. 

" 'Under our Government, the Legislature is not supreme. It is 
only one of the organs of that absolute sovereignty which resides in 
the whole body of the people. Like other departments of the Gov- 
ernment, it can only exercise such powers as have been delegated to 
it; and when it steps beyond that boundary, its acts, like those of 
the most humble magistrate who transcends his jurisdiction, are 
utterly void. Where, then, shall we find a delegation of power to the 
Legislature to take the property of A and give it to B, either with 
or without compensation? Only one clause of the Constitution can 
be cited in support of the power, and that is the first section of the 
first article, where the people have declared that "the legislative 
power of the State shall be vested in a Senate and Assembly." It is 
readily admitted that the two Houses, subject only to the qualified 
negative of the Governor, possess "all the legislative power of the 
State," but the question immediately presents itself, what is that 
legislative power, and how far does it extend? Does it reach the 
life, liberty or property of a citizen who is not charged with a trans- 
gression of the laws, and where the sacrifice is not demanded by a 
just regard for the public welfare?' 

"And Judge Nelson, in the same case, says : 

" 'Whether the security of the citizen against such arbitrary legis- 
lation as the argument contemplates, depends upon this clause of the 
Constitution, (that relating to the eminent domain,) or rests upon 
the broader and more solid ground of natural right, never delegated 
by the people to the law-making power, it is unnecessary now to 
inquire. I am far from disputing the existence of the rule itself.' 



244 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

"And again, in the case of Fletcher vs. Peck, 6 Cranch, 
87, Chief Justice Marshall says : 

" 'It may well be doubted whether the nature of society and gov- 
ernment does not prescribe some limits to the legislative power, and 
if any be prescribed, where are they to be found, if the property 
of an individual, fairly and honestly acquired, may be seized without 
compensation? To the Legislature all legislative power is granted, 
but the question whether the act of transferring the property of an 
individual to the public is in the nature of a legislative power, is 
well worthy of serious reflection. How far the power of giving the 
laiv may involve any other power, in cases where the Constitution is 
silent, never has been, and, perhaps, never can be definitely stated. 
The validity of this rescinding act, then, might very well be doubted 
even if Georgia were a single sovereign power.' 

"These opinions are cited at some length, for purposes of 
reference upon other points, which will be discussed hereafter. 
It is scarcely necessary to add, that the principles which they 
enunciate are declared by Chancellor Kent, to be universal, 
fundamental and constitutional doctrines in English and Ameri- 
can law. 

"But the theory of the Chief Justice is, if possible, still more 
conclusively met by the unmistakable utterances of our own 
Constitution. The 26th and last section of the Declaration of 
Rights, after the enumeration of the principles and prohibitions 
which are contained in the previous sections, declares that 'to 
prevent the transgression of the high pozvers herein delegated, 
we do hereby reserve every thing in this article contained, from 
the general powers of government, and declare the same to be 
forever sacred and inviolate.' 

"What is meant by this language? If the powers delegated 
were absolute, by virtue of the general grant, it was, of course, 
impossible that there could be any transgression of them. 
'Where there is no law,' the Apostle says, 'there can be no trans- 
gression;' and the like may be observed, where there is no 
limitation. This language implies the apprehension of abuse. 
It zvas possible, then, in the view of the framers of the Consti- 
tution, for the Legislature to do, what now seems to be generally 
regarded as impossible by the Judiciary — to transcend the high 
powers delegated to them ; and in order to prevent it effectually, 
these principles are announced, and these prohibitions inserted. 
Without a declaration of rights, there might, in the view of the 
framers, be a transgression. It is clear as light, therefore, 
that they embodied the Declaration, not because they considered 
it necessary as a reservation, but by way only of greater precau- 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 245 

tion against abuse. It was incorporated, therefore, not as a 
necessary limitation per se, but merely to prevent che abuse of 
an implied limitation in the grant itself. 

"In every point of view, therefore, the theory of the Chief 
Justice is utterly untenable. It has no support in reason or 
principle, and is contradicted upon authorities which are per- 
fectly overwhelming. And yet, from this false and alarming 
doctrine, maintained by nobody in this country, and utterly at 
war with all Revolutionary sentiment, and every idea of practical 
or rational liberty, does the Chief Justice most illogically deduce 
the still more monstrous and alarming rule, that, in the inter- 
pretation of the Constitution, its chapter of reservations, upon 
which he supposes the liberties of the citizens almost exclusively 
to repose, is to be construed strictly as against the citizen, who 
stands upon them for his security, and largely and liberally in 
favor of the Government. 

"One would suppose that in a government like ours, pro- 
fessing to be a free one, and to have been created for the benefit 
of the governed, the very opposite construction would follow, 
by an inevitable logic, from the proposition that the general 
grant would have made slaves of all of us, and that the excep- 
tions are the only refuge for freedom. It seems, however, that 
she is practically to find no refuge anywhere. If we look to the 
grant, and appeal to the spirit in which it was made, we are 
frowned out of Court, with the stem assurance that it has made 
us slaves, and that we must look to the reservations for our 
security. If we fly for refuge to the sanctuary thus pointed out 
to us, we are followed there, and dragged from the very horns 
of its altar, as fugitives from the power of our own Govern- 
ment — revolted subjects in arms against our sovereign. Qua- 
cunque via data — turn which way we will — the construction is 
to be against us. We are in the condition so pathetically 
described by our British ancestors : 'the barbarians drive us to 
the sea, and the sea drives us back again upon the barbarians.' 

"With the demolition of the theory, of course, perishes the 
rule of construction which is founded upon it. There is so 
much, however, in that rule to challenge animadversion — so 
much that is revolting to the Republican mind, that I do not 
feel at liberty to pass it over in silence. 

"That rule of construction is, in terms, that 'as against him 
who stands upon the exceptions, the construction is to be strict, 
while it is liberal in favor of the Government.' 

"This monstrous sentiment is, perhaps, a fair result of the 
erroneous and heretical theory, by which it is ushered in. If 



246 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

it be, indeed, true, that all governments are, prima facie, abso- 
lute, and all limitations on their powers are but abridgments of 
their natural and inherent prerogatives — concessions extorted 
by, and reluctantly yielded to the people, and held by the latter, 
not upon any original title, in themselves, but as of the mere 
bounty of the sovereign — then it may be asserted, perhaps, that 
the man who claims immunity under them in our Courts, is 
standing upon a hard bargain, coerced from his lawful master, 
and is entitled to no more than the letter of his contract. If a 
British Judge were so to hold, in view of the theory of his Gov- 
ernment, as deduced from its actual history, and without refer- 
ence to the modern notions in regard to the true sources of 
power, and the legitimate purposes of all government, the argu- 
ment would be, at least, a plausible one. I doubt, however, 
whether there is a Judge in England, who, in a contest between 
a subject and the Crown, would have the courage to follow the 
lead of the Chief Justice of Pennsylvania — to reject the great 
modern principle of construction in favorem lihertatis, and to 
decide that Magna Charta, or the Bill of Rights, was to be con- 
strued strictly as against the subject, and liberally in favor of 
the Crown. If the people of Pennsylvania are indifferent to 
the enunciation of such principles, it is not so with the gallant 
Commons of England. They know the value of a principle by 
the blood which it has cost them, and all the power of the Crown 
could not protect the Judge who uttered it, from the just con- 
demnation of the people whom he had betrayed. We are, 
perhaps, indifferent, because we have come to our inheritance 
of liberty full-grown, and do not, therefore, either realize its 
original cost, or the dangers by which it is menaced. 

"It has already been remarked, that one of the reasons 
suggested for the omission of Declarations of Rights in several 
of the State Constitutions, was the tendency of an enumeration 
to weaken the reserved rights, by giving color to usurpation, 
on the ground of omission. If the reasonableness of this appre- 
hension could ever have been questioned — as it might well have 
been by men who had just come out of the Revolution — it is 
now amply justified by the example of a Pennsylvania Judge, 
who has not been ashamed to hold us to the letter of the reser- 
vations, even while he denies that we have any rights, except 
those which may have been thus protected. But let us examine 
his rule by the test of principle. 

"It is admitted that the Constitution emanates from the 
people, and is their work. It will not be denied, I suppose, that 
it is but a power of attorney. It reserves, however, sundry 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 247 

things from the delegation, and announces those things as 'a 
declaration of rights.' The things reserved, are mainly the 
natural rights of the citizen, which all governments are insti- 
tuted to secure, and no more of which were intended to be 
parted with, than were essential to the general weal. The 
Declaration of Rights is, therefore, the 'Holy of Holies' of the 
Constitution. It is expressly and emphatically made the sacred 
depository of 'great, general and essential principles,' and of 
course the great palladium of individual and public liberty, 
which was to stand through all time, intangible and inviolable 
by the rude hands of power. With these reserved rights, even 
the delegates of the people themselves were not to be trusted. 
They could be announced, however, only in general maxims or 
principles, which would be understood, and they were so 
expressly announced, in connexion with sundry special pro- 
hibitions. The people had a right, moreover, to demand, that 
if any power was claimed to interfere with any of their natural 
rights, or which militated against any of these principles, the 
grant of it should be shown. The burthen was not on them, 
but on the aggressor. And now it is gravely asserted by a Penn- 
sylvania Judge, that in a contest between the citizen and the 
Government — between the maker and his own instrument — the 
construction is to be, not according to common law rules — not 
according to the undoubted meaning of the parties — not upon 
the great, obvious and general purposes and objects of the 
instrument itself, which is only another name for its spirit, 
tenor and intent — but strict as against the constituent, where 
the power was given, and the reservation made, for his benefit 
only, and large and liberal in favor of the attorney! What 
would be thought, I ask again, of such a doctrine even in 
England, where a Bill of Rights is, in point of fact, an abridg- 
ment of the prerogative, or a concession wrested from a feudal 
sovereign ? Would the common law and common sense rule be 
discarded there, or would the construction be, as it always is, 
/n favor of liberty f Would a British Judge have the courage 
to announce, or could he announce safely, such a doctrine, at the 
present enlightened era ? I venture to say that he could not hold 
his place for six months against the tempest which it would 
occasion. And yet it is upon such a principle, flowing, as it 
does, from an erroneous view of our Republican institutions, 
that the power claimed in this case has been sustained by an 
American Judge ! It is on such a principle, that he has abdicated 
his high constitutional trust, and surrendered us and our prop- 



248 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

erty, to the tender mercies of a mere ephemeral Legislature, 
which he declares to be practically omnipotent. 

"Nor is it true that the law has ever been so declared else- 
where. It cannot be shown, we think, that such a doctrine has 
found expression in England at any time, although it may have 
been practically administered in many cases, while the Judges 
were dependent upon the Crown. From the era of the great 
Revolution, the tendencies, presumptions and maxims of inter- 
pretation have all been on the side of liberty. Nor has any 
American Judge, so far as we are advised, ever before given 
utterance to such a sentiment. 

"It cannot be shovm, in the first place, that the State Gov- 
ernments may do whatever is not distinctly and clearly pro- 
hibited in their Constitutions. It is already demonstrated, upon 
authority which is not to be questioned, that there is a limitation 
in the very nature of our governments, which stands clear and 
independent of all express reservations whatever. No more can 
it be shown that there is one rule of construction for the Federal 
Constitution, and another for our own. The distinction is 
repudiated by authority equally high, in the cases of Gibbons vs. 
Ogden, 9 Wheat, and Ogdcn vs. Saunders, 12 Wheat. 332; and 
denied by the ablest of the Commentators. Story's Com. vol. i, 
sees. 413-14- 

"Nor is there any authority whatever, for the still more 
extraordinary distinction, which assigns one rule of construction 
for a grant, and another for a reservation in the same instru- 
ment, by enlarging the former and restraining the latter, and 
thus denying to the citizen the advantage of his own securities. 
If any distinction were admissible, the very converse of that 
proposition would be the true one. Where a provision is 
remedial in its nature, it is entitled to a liberal construction, 
and such was the doctrine of Chief Justice Jay, in the case of 
Chisholnt's Executors vs. Georgia. 

"It is not necessary, however, to invoke even the reason- 
able and natural presumption in favor of liberty. A Constitu- 
tion of government, like all other instruments, is to be con- 
strued according to the intention of the parties, and that inten- 
tion is to be gathered from the whole instrument — from the 
context — the subject-matter — the effects and consequences — and 
the reason and spirit of the law — as well as from the words. 1 
Story's Com. sec. 400. 'The rules of interpretation,' according 
to Judge Gibson, 'demand a strictly verbal construction of 
nothing but a penal statute.' A Constitution of government is 
no subject for either metaphysical subtleties, or verbal criticism, 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 249 

(Story, sec. 455,) or technical or artificial rules. (Federalist, 
No. 83.) If there be any difference in the case of a Constitu- 
tion, we have the authority of the same Judge for saying, that 
the latter 'is to be construed more liberally than even a remedial 
statute, because a Convention, legislating for masses of men, 
can do little more than mark an outline of fundamental princi- 
ples/ Hobbs vs. Fogg, 6 Watts, 558. 'When it is said that the 
Constitution of the United States should be construed strictly, 
whenever it touches the rights of property, or of personal 
security or liberty, the rule is equally applicable to the State 
Constitutions in the like cases. The principle upon which this 
rests, is, that the people ought not to be presumed to yield up 
their rights of property or liberty, beyond what is the clear sense 
of the language and objects of the Constitution. The strict or 
the more extended sense — both being within the letter — may be 
fairly held to be within their intention, as either shall best 
promote or secure their rights, property or liberty. The words 
are not, indeed, to be stretched beyond their fair sense, but 
within that range, the rule of interpretation must be taken, 
which best follows out the apparent intention.' Rawle, ch. i, 
p. 31. And this is the mode which is universally adopted in 
construing the State Constitutions, i Story's Com. sec. 413. 
'The safest rule is to look to the nature and objects of the 
particular pozvers, duties and rights, and to give to the words of 
each just such operation and force, consistent with their legiti- 
mate meaning, as may fairly secure and attain the ends pro- 
posed.' Prigg vs. Pennsylvania, 16 Pet. 610. 'A Constitution 
is to be construed as a law established by the people for their 
own purposes. The powers conferred, and the restrictions 
imposed, are for the common benefit of the governed, and not 
for the profit or dignity of the rulers.' i Story's Com. sec. 
409. 'Keeping within the common and natural sense, the expo- 
sition is to have a fair and just latitude, so as on the one hand, 
to avoid obvious mischief, and on the other to promote the 
public good.' 12 Wheat. 332. 'Where the provision is for the 
benefit of the grantor, no one can doubt the propriety of giving 
to the words a benign and liberal interpretation.' Story, sec. 
420. 'A Constitution of government founded by the people, for 
themselves and their posterity, and for the perpetuation of the 
blessings of liberty, necessarily requires that every interpreta- 
tion of its powers should have constant reference to those 
objects.' Ibid, 4:22. 'No construction of a given power is to be 
allowed, which plainly defeats or impairs any one of the avowed 
objects.' Ibid, 425. These are the rules which have been 



250 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

settled and approved by the highest authority. There is none 
to give even a color to the pretense, that there is one lawr for 
the Government, and another for the people. 

"Starting from these premises, however, and assuming that 
the General Assembly may exercise all powers which are prop- 
erly legislative, and are not expressly taken away, either by the 
Federal Constitution or our own, the Chief Justice remarks : 
'But we are urged to go further, and to declare that a law, 
though not prohibited, is void, if it violates the spirit of our 
institutions, or impairs any of those rights which it is the object 
of a free Government to protect. But we cannot do this. It 
would be assuming a right to change the Constitution,' &c. 

"This, however, is not a fair statement of the argument. 
The Supreme Court had not been asked to declare that a law, 
though not prohibited, is void under the circumstances suggested. 
All it was asked, was to say that, if it violated the spirit of our 
institutions, or impaired any of the rights which this Govern- 
ment was intended to secure, then it was prohibited, and, there- 
fore, void. And for this purpose, they were asked to look at 
the whole instrument — to examine its general scope and purposes 
— to take its own solemn declaration on that point, as the key 
and index to its interpretation — to test the validity of the legis- 
tion involved, by a reference to those objects, and to give a 
construction to the whole, as they would to any other important 
instrument, which should effectuate the intent of the parties, 
if at all consistent with its language. They were asked to say, 
in effect, whether one of the main objects of this Government, 
as declared in that instrument, was not the security of property, 
and whether the legislation referred to was consistent with that 
object. Was there anything unreasonable in this? 

"The answer is, however, that this cannot be done, because 
it would be assuming a right to change the Constitution; that 
this instrument has furnished a list of the things which the 
Legislature may not do; that the Court cannot add to that list 
any more than it can take away; that all powers are subject to 
abuse; that there is no shadow of reason for supposing that the 
mere abuse of power was intended to be corrected by the 
Judiciary ; that nothing is more easy than to imagine the most 
reckless and tyrannical abuse of legislative power; that the 
same may be imagined of the Judges with equal facility, and to 
give them the right of controlling its exercise, on that ground, 
would be to gain nothing by the change, because Judges are as 
fallible and corruptible as Legislators, and less directly amenable 
to the people, who would at once avenge themselves of their 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 25 1 

Representatives by 'scourging them into retirement;' that the 
words of the Constitution are the only test of the vaUdity of a 
statute; and that all arguments based on general principles 
outside of that instrument, are to be addressed only to the people. 

"This answer involves some curious inferences, which did 
not, perhaps, enter into the contemplation of the Chief Justice, 
when he was thus marshaling his government forces, in his 
zeal for reasoning down the rights and privileges of the people. 
He was not aware, perhaps, how much he was proving by his 
argument. 

"It is an abnegation, in the first place, of the rule by which 
every law or contract is construed according to the intent and 
meaning of the parties,- and with it, of the whole right of 
interpretation, either of Acts of Assembly or of private agree- 
ments, in all doubtful, and, of course, in all controverted cases. 
If to interpret a contract according to its obvious meaning, and 
without regard to the letter — and the Constitution itself is but 
a compact — is to change it, and to make a new one, then the 
Supreme Court of this State, as well as every subordinate juris- 
diction, has been from its organization, and is yet, in the per- 
formance of its most ordinary and almost exclusive duties, in 
the daily and habitual violation, not merely of our own Con- 
stitution, but of the Constitution of the United States ! 

"It is a denial, in the second place, of the right of the 
Supreme Court to pass upon the constitutionality of any legisla- 
tive act, because its only clear jurisdiction in such cases arises 
out of abuses of power under the Constitution. The Chief 
Justice awards to the Legislature an absolute plenitude of power, 
with certain exceptions only, which are expressly set down in 
the Constitution. Those exceptions are, however, declared to 
be for the purpose of 'preventing the transgression of the high 
powers therein delegated ; and the right of the Court to interfere 
in the excepted cases, depends, therefore, only on the case of an 
abuse, with which, according to the Chief Justice, they have no 
right to interfere at all ! It is still more curious, however, that 
while he recognizes the plenitude of the legislative power, and 
denies the right of interference, except where the act done is 
forbidden, in so many words, he does claim the right of nullify- 
ing a law by giving it a bad name and calling it a decree, 
because it trenches, in his opinion, upon his own functions as a 
Judge; although, if it did, there is nothing to be found in 
the Constitution which expressly forbids it ! I see no difference 
between the cases, except that in the one it is the quarrel of an 
official dignitary, while in the other it is only the quarrel of the 
people. 



252 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

"But, thirdly, it involves an utter oblivion of the Constitu- 
tion, history, purposes and dignity of the Judiciary, and a decla- 
ration of utter unworthiness in all cases, in assuming that they 
are not any more worthy of trust than the Legislature, and even 
less so, because they are more irresponsible, and less amenable to 
the people. The Chief Justice forgets that the Judiciary was 
intended as a counterpoise to the Legislature, and was made 
permanent and independent for the very purpose of lifting it 
above all temporary influences, and enabling it, by its learning, 
its high character, its gravity, its integrity, and its entire inde- 
pendence, to hold the tyranny of majorities in check, until the 
popular mind could have leisure to react. This very independ- 
ence is now, however, converted into an argument for the 
abandonment of a duty. The remedy suggested to us now is, to 
leave iniquity triumphant by merely 'unfrocking' its authors, 
after the mischief is consummated, instead of undoing the act; 
and this, because the Judiciary is no better, and much less 
responsible, than the Legislature ! If it is, in point of fact, 
no better, the theory, at least, is otherwise. If it is ready to 
confess that it is no better, then its uses for purposes of consti- 
tutional supervision are at an end, and there is no further reason 
why it should continue to pass upon the validity of a legislative 
act at all. We must content ourselves with the reflection that 
the Legislature is responsible — that the people will sit in judg- 
ment upon their doings — and that they will avenge the wrong, 
not by redressing the injured, but by 'scourging the delinquents 
into a retirement,' where they can sin no more. The curious may, 
perhaps, inquire, why it is that the judicial tribunal which has 
already decided — and that, too, in the absence of any express 
prohibition — that the Legislature shall not skulk from its just 
responsibilities, by a delegation of even a lazv-approving power 
to its constituents, {Com. vs. Parker, 6 Barr, 507,) should claim 
the privilege of doing the same thing itself, by the transfer of 
its own higher and more delicate functions to the same body; 
but we shall, at least, enjoy the luxury of a new Constitutional 
Court, of apt material for nice investigations, whose decisions 
will echo the sentiments of the dominant party, and eventually 
set up a new Constitution. 

"And, fourthly, it is a denial that there are any general 
principles inside of the Constitution, because it refers to the 
words as the only test, and treats all arguments derived from 
other sources, as flowing only from general principles outside 
of that instrument. 

"But, the whole answer of the Chief Justice shows that he 
has misread the Declaration of Rights, and misapprehended its 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 253 

general purpose and tenor, as much as he has mistaken the 
theory and structure of our Government. He treats it, exckt- 
sively, as a chapter of prohibitions. He tells us, again and 
again, that it is not sufficient that a principle is violated — for that 
is too vague, and would turn the Judges into law-makers ; or that 
a power has been abused — for that, again, is not a question for 
the Judiciary; but that there must be a clear and distinct 
prohibition. If he will turn, however, to the Declaration of 
Rights, he will find that it purports, on its very face, to be a 
repository, not of prohibitions at all, but of principles exclusively 
— of what it denominates 'the great, general and essential prin- 
ciples of liberty and free government.' Nor does it treat them 
either as mysteries in themselves, or as deriving their obligation 
from the Declaration. It assumes that the Government is 
intended to be a free one. It assumes that the 'essential prin- 
ciples' of such a Government are understood. It does not 
propose the absurdity of enacting what, being 'essential,' must 
have been implied, at all events, from that very fact, but merely 
to declare those principles, with a view to their explicit recogni- 
tion and perpetual establishment; and it announces them, in 
general terms, as maxims of government, or land-marks by 
which its authorities were to be guided. If it goes further, and 
passes into the details of special prohibitions, it is only in cases 
where the general principle might not be supposed to reach, as 
in the provision for compensation upon the exercise of the right 
of eminent domain; and it closes with the declaration, that 'to 
prevent the transgression of the high powers' which had been 
previously delegated, it excepts all these things out of the 
general powers of government. 

"If the Chief Justice had read this Declaration as he ought, 
he would have found in it the answer to all his objections. 
Instead of regarding the general principles of liberty and free 
government as too vague and indefinite for safe adjudication, 
he would have discovered that it was intended only as a declara- 
tion of principles, and that it declared the inviolability of prop- 
erty as one of them, without reference to the manner in which 
it might be attacked, and whether 'taken' according to the 
rude notion of a bodily seizure, or by the more cunning but not 
less effective artifice of a mere incumbrance ; and he would have 
looked at the provision in relation to the taking of private 
property for public use, as only intended as a quahfication of 
the inherent and essential right of eminent domain, by enacting 
a recompense. Instead of dismissing the case for the want of an 
express prohibition, he would have found it in that Declaration, 
as distinctly uttered as the sublimest teachings in the Oracles 



254 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

of Truth. Instead of declining the jurisdiction to correct the 
abuses of legislation, and disregarding the previous opinions of 
his own Court, he would have recognized, in the assertion of 
the purpose of 'preventing the transgression of the high powers' 
conferred, the command which it conveyed to himself, to test the 
validity of the Act of the Legislature by the application of these 
principles. He would have looked only into the purposes of the 
Government, and the rights it was intended to protect ; he would 
have inquired whether the legislation in question did, in effect, 
without any necessity on the part of the State, interfere with 
the right of 'possessing and protecting property,' either by 
impairing the enjoyment or overthrowing the title; and finding 
that it did, he would have felt constrained to declare that it was 
at war with one of the 'great, general and essential principles 
of free government,' as declared in that instrument. And 
this is not all. If he had read the Declaration as he ought, he 
would have avoided the blunder of entering upon a serious 
argument to show that there was nothing in our Constitution 
to indicate that this Government was intended to be free, or, to 
speak with more precision, that its Legislature was to be circum- 
scribed by the limitations which attach to the Legislature of a 
free State. 

"But he is not willing to test the validity of a legislative 
act by these rules. He does not feel at liberty to look into the 
spirit of the Constitution, by taking a broad, liberal, generous, 
statesman-like and republican view of its whole scope, purpose 
and design. That may be apparent enough, but it is not a safe 
guide. The general intent may be frustrated, and must fail, 
unless the language be express and precise. Though the letter 
kill, there is no life-giving principle which can restore. If it 
were the case of a contract, made between A and B, for the 
purchase of a barrel of mackerel, the law would imply that they 
were intended to be sound, because that is the spirit of the agree- 
ment. If it were a question upon an agreement between the 
same parties, for the value only of a day's labor, the Judge would 
feel authorized even to disregard the words, if they conflicted 
with the manifest intent. He is not asked, however, to do any- 
thing of that sort here. It is not pretended that the construction 
claimed, is at variance with the language of the instrument. 
It is objected, only, that the expression of the intent is too 
general. Even the common-sense principle, which would govern 
in the case of the mackerel, is not to be invoked for the protec- 
tion of a State, or the security of its citizens. The makers of 
the Constitution can reserve no natural right from the grasp of 
the Government, which they have erected for their own security. 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 255 

by the enunciation of a principle. It is but a lifeless generality, 
without virtue, as it is without vitality; valuable, perhaps, for 
ornament, but utterly worthless for use. They are entitled to 
their mackerel, it is true. They may be rotten, but that is their 
misfortune. They have the letter of their contract, and are 
not authorized to ask anything more. 

"But, monstrous, anti-republican, and utterly untenable, as 
this doctrine of the Chief Justice is shown to Idc, he does not 
hesitate to announce it as 'resulting so plainly from the reason 
of the thing, as scarcely to need the aid of authority ! !' To 
satisfy those, however, whom his previous assumptions may have 
failed to convince, he condescends to refer to several of the 
opinions cited on the other side, and after disposing of them in 
the most summary way, as mere 'expressions favoring the oppo- 
site view,' and 'incidentally falling' from distinguished Judges — 
proceeds to declare that the weight of authority, on his own side, 
is utterly overwhelming ; and that he is not aware that any State 
Court has ever held a law to be invalid, except where it was 
clearly forbidden. 

"It is in connection, however, with the last part of the 
answer already referred to, viz : that the words of the Constitu- 
tion furnish the only test of the validity of a statute, and that 
all arguments based on general principles outside of that instru- 
ment, must be addressed to the people, that the Chief Justice 
turns his attention to the decisions, with the remark, that these 
propositions result so plainly from the reason of the thing, as 
scarcely to need the aid of authority. 

"I do not feel called upon to dispute the latter of these two 
propositions, because, in the present instance, it is clear as light, 
that the general principle invoked for our protection, is inside 
of the Constitution. No more am I required to deny the propo- 
sition that no Court — State or national — has ever held a law to 
be invalid, unless it was clearly forbidden. When the Chief 
Justice of Pennsylvania undertakes, however, to disparage the 
opinions of eminent Judges, which seem to have been cited 
against him on the argument, by characterizing them as mere 
'expressions' 'incidentally falling' from them, and as entitled to 
no weight ; and ventures, in the rash confidence of wild and un- 
enlightened theory and imperfect research, to question the exist- 
ence of a single case — either State or national — at variance with 
his views, I feel that I cannot resist the temptation to answer 
the defiance which his oracular, and magisterial, and deprecia- 
ting tone, so strongly conveys. I refer him, then, in the first 
place, to the case of Wilkinson vs. Leland, already cited. If 
the authority of the highest tribunal in the United States, when 



256 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

it reckoned amongst its Judges such names as those of Marshall 
and Story, will not content him, as being too high, I then invite 
his attention to the cases of Taylor vs. Porter, (4 Hill, 140,) 
and Varich vs. Smith, (5 Paige, 159,) in New York; to the 
case of Bowman vs. Middleton, (i Bay, 252,) in South Carolina; 
to the case of [omitted in pamphlet] in Georgia : and if all these 
are not satisfactory, I then appeal to the case of the Com- 
monzvealth vs. Parker, 6 Barr, 507, in the Supreme Court of 
Pennsylvania, of which the ink was scarcely then dry. 

"No more am I required to controvert the proposition, that 
the words of the Constitution furnish the only test of the validity 
of a statute, or that it can be declared void only where it violates 
the Constitution, clearly, plainly and palpably; because there is, 
in the present case, no absence of words, clear enough and 
strong enough, under any sound rule of construction, to answer 
all our purposes. If it is intended, however, by this language, to 
indicate — and such is undoubtedly his meaning — that the act 
must be prohibited in so many zvords, and that it cannot be 
clearly prohibited by the enunciation of a general principle, or 
in any other way, and is not clearly prohibited, although it may 
be in direct conflict with that principle — then he states what is 
not law — what is not supported by any one of the authorities 
to which he so triumphantly refers as overwhelming — and what, 
I venture to say, no industry of his can find a case to authorize. 
But that is not all. If he intends to be so understood, he states 
what is most flatly contradicted by decisions in our own State. 
The case of Parker vs. The Commonzvealth, already referred to, 
is one of them; but it is not alone. The case of Greenoiigh vs. 
Greenough, i Jones, 459, overruling that of Braddee and 
Brownfield, is another. The case of Com. vs. Mann, 5 W. & S. 
403, in regard to the taxing of Judges' salaries, is a third; and, 
without multiplying words, the case of Norman vs. Heist, 5 W. 
& S. 171, is a fourth. Will the Chief Justice point out to us the 
express words in the Constitution, by which the Acts declared 
invalid in these cases, were prohibited? Is there anything in 
its specific prohibitions, against the taking of private property 
for private use? The Constitution declares that it shall not be 
taken for public use, without compensation. Is not the implica- 
tion irresistible, upon his own rules — that general words are 
strengthened by exceptions, and weakened by enumeration — that 
there must be express words to prohibit — and that the construc- 
tion is to be strict as against the citizen — that it may be so taken ? 
Will he show what there was but the general principle, inside 
or outside, which he so vehemently discards, that could have 
protected the lawful heir, in the case of Norman vs. Heist? 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 257 

The truth is, that it is only in cases where express words are 
wanting, that any question is Hkely to arise. The Legislature 
will not generally usurp a power, where they are met by a flat 
interdict; and that is precisely the use which has been assigned 
to Bills of Rights, by those who regard them as otherwise 
unnecessary. 2 Kent's Com. 8. It is in cases, however, where 
they come in conflict with a general principle, without suspect- 
ing it, as men unaccustomed to reasoning are apt to do, when 
they are dealing with an abstraction, that the intervention of the 
Courts is most required. 'It is those insidious encroachments 
which do not strike the eye at once,' in the language of Judge 
Bell, in the case of the Commonwealth vs. Parker, 'that are pre- 
cisely the most to be dreaded.' 

"And, now, having shown the utter heresy of the doctrine 
upon which the Chief Justice has rested his decision, I might 
have stopped at this point. I propose, however, to follow him 
still further, for the purpose of showing how hollow and falla- 
cious, sophistical and contradictory, is the whole line of argu- 
ment by which he endeavors to justify his conclusions. 

"His next remarks have reference to the objection, that the 
Acts in question create a contract for the people of the city or 
county; and to this his answer is, that he does not say that a 
contract between two individuals or corporations, can be made 
by the Legislature, because that would not be legislation, and 
would be, moreover, morally impossible. He distinguishes, how- 
ever, the Acts in question, as merely an authority given to the 
respective corporations, to make one betzueen themselves, if they 
see proper; and asserts, that the authority to make contracts on 
behalf of the people, belongs to all public corporations, because 
it is necessary to their existence, and may be exercised without 
their unanimous consent, and that the contracts which affect a 
man as an individual, must be made by himself; but those which 
affect him only as a member of the community, and in the same 
way as his fellows, must be made by the authorities which the 
law has set over him. 

"The answer to this is, 

"ist. That the authority given in these cases, is not to the 
corporations, but to the mere appointees of the Legislature, who 
may, or may not, chance to be a corporate organ for ordinary 
or special purposes. It is of no consequence, in the view of the 
Court, by what instrument the power is to be exercised; nor is 
the assent of the corporators — the parties to be affected — of any 
importance whatever. Public or municipal corporations are the 
mere creatures of the Legislature — trustees only of the public — 
standing upon no contract, and subject to such modifications as 



258 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

the Legislature may choose to impose, within their appropriate 
sphere, and without regard to the wishes or consent of the indi- 
viduals who compose them. Dartmouth College vs. Woodward, 
4 Wheat. 518. People vs. Morris, 13 Wend. 337. In the case 
of a private corporation, it will not be pretended that any such 
power could be exercised, aside from the objects of the corpora- 
tion, without the assent of its members. It is idle, therefore, 
to talk about a mere authority, under these Acts, to the corpora- 
tion itself, to make the contracts referred to. If they may be 
authorized in this way, they may, and might as well, for all 
practical purposes, be commanded. An absolute power, thus 
given, is equivalent to a mandate, when executed. The case 
does not stand upon the footing of consent, either express or 
implied. There is no such thing in regard to public corpora- 
tions. It all resolves itself into a mere naked question of power. 
It could not be done, as already suggested, so as to bind the 
members, in the case of a private corporation. If it can be 
done here, it is only by virtue of the power which the Legisla- 
ture may exercise over a public corporation, and because they 
can compel it without the assent of any of the corporators. 

"2d. It is not denied that the authority to make contracts 
for the public, belongs to all public corporations, and that it may 
be exercised without their unanimous consent, or without any 
consent at all. That, however, would authorize no contract 
beyond the special purposes of the corporation, and \t is to such 
only as are necessary to their existence, that they are claimed 
by the Chief Justice to extend. These, however, are not con- 
tracts of that sort. They are not necessary to the existence 
of the corporation, and do not, therefore, fall within the Judge's 
illustration. If they were, no legislation would seem to be nec- 
essary'. 

"3d. But the last portion of the answer admits it to be a 
question of mere power. If the contracts which affect an indi- 
vidual, only as a member of the community, must be made by 
those who are set over him by the law, then, by the Judge's 
admission, it is morally impossible to make a case of contract 
out of it at all. If it is the contract of anybody, it is that of 
the Legislature; and it comes back, of course, to the question, 
whether the Legislature can order the contribution, and compel 
the corporator to obey; which amounts to nothing mor^ or less 
than o tax, imposed by themselves, for that purpose. And it 
makes no difference, moreover, what the Act may be. The only 
condition essential to its validity is, that it shall affect him only 
as a member of the community, and in the same way as his 
fellows. The Legislature may oppress and destroy the particu- 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 259 

lar community, provided they will distribute their thunderbolts 
with an undiscriminating hand. The magnitude of the crime 
is to constitute its apology, and companionship in misfortune, to 
be the consolation of the afflicted. 

"It is admitted by the Chief Justice, that the right of acquir- 
ing, possessing and protecting property, cannot be taken away, 
and that our Constitution makes property as sacred as life. It 
is insisted, however, in reply to the argument drawn from this 
source, that no man's right to his property can be so absolute 
as to exempt it from its fair share of the public burthens, 
lawfully and constitutionally imposed; and that it cannot be 
assumed that they are either unlawful or unconstitutional. 

"This proposition is doubtless true, as stated, unless the case 
of the salaries of the Judges, which have been recently holden 
to be free from that liability, is to be considered as an exception. 
It is not pretended that the property of any man is exempt from 
a fair share of the public burthens ; and if the compelling of the 
County of Allegheny to make rail roads through the counties of 
Fayette and Somerset, without any contribution, either from 
those counties, or from the State at large, is no more than a fair 
share, where she pays everything, and they nothing, it is 
admitted that the people thus taxed have no right to complain. 
The Judge, however, overlooks his own qualification of fairness, 
and casts it aside as soon as it is uttered ; putting the whole case 
upon an argument from which the admitted considerations of 
fairness and equality are quietly discarded. The Court was 
not asked to assume that these impositions were either unlawful 
or unconstitutional, but to infer the unconstitutionality, from the 
very fact that they did want the ingredient of fairness. 

"The next remark of the Chief Justice is, that this is not a 
taking of property, because it is merely subjecting it, in a future 
contingency, to the liability of being taxed higher than it is at 
present — that to make it so, it must be a direct seizure and 
absolute dispossession, and that it would be disregarding its 
popular as well as legal sense, to say that it is taken, when it 
is merely depreciated in value, or incumbered, or incidentally 
injured; and, least of all, is it a taking when it is taxed, because, 
in such cases, the Constitution requires compensation, which 
would be absurd in the case of a tax — as it would be merely 
levying it for the purpose of paying it back. 

"And why, it may be asked, would compensation be absurd 
in the case thus put? The answer is, because all taxation is 
expected to be fair and equal, and general purposes to be accom- 
plished by a general tax, and local purposes by a local one. If, 
however, a general public purpose is to be accomplished by a 



26o THOMAS WILLIAMS 

local imposition, then the absurdity would cease, and compensa- 
tion out of the common treasury become essential to restore 
the equilibrium. And, therefore, it is provided, in the clause 
regulating the right of eminent domain, that where the property 
of an individual is taken, or more of one man's property than 
another's, for a public purpose, the sufferer shall receive com- 
pensation. And, in this view, it makes no difference whether 
you seize the whole property of a local commtmity, for a general 
purpose, or that of an individual. It is, in the former case, 
only taking the property of an aggregation of individuals. 

"But is it true that such a taxing as this is no taking, and 
that property is not taken when it is only incumbered and depre- 
ciated in value ? It is admitted that a mere consequential injury 
is no technical taking, under the authorities ; but where has it 
ever been held that an incumbrance, fastened by the Act of the 
Legislature upon it, and depreciating it materially in value, is 
no taking? Suppose the incumbrance should result in a sale, 
or so diminish the value as to defeat a prior incumbrance ; or, 
suppose it should extend to the whole value ; is it anything better 
than a quibble — a mere piece of hollow and treacherous sophistry 
— to say that the property is not then taken? Is not the liability 
— contingent, though it be — if it should so result, a taking, when 
it is enforced? Is this argument anything more than to say, 
that it is only a power to take, which may be exerted on a con- 
tingency, and that it is not a taking, because of the contingency, 
or the mere possibility that the owner may escape? It is not, 
however, a mere case of suretyship or contingent liability. It 
is an absolute debt, and the only contingency is, whether the 
estate of the free-holder shall be called upon to pay it. It is 
enough that it may be taken; and if the spirit of the constitu- 
tional provision will not protect it in such a case, it is a mere 
cheat and a juggle, which 'palters with us, in a double sense, 
and keeps the word of promise to the ear, but breaks it to the 
hope.' 

"Nor is it any more true, that it would be disregarding the 
popular and legal sense of the word, to say that property is 
taken when it is merely depreciated in value, or incumbered, or 
taxed. To say that the levying of a sum of money is a taking, 
even though done under color of the taxing power, is doing no 
violence to language. To seize the proceeds is, in substance and 
legal effect, equivalent to a seizure of the corpus from which 
they issue. The law itself treats a devise of the rents as a devise 
of the lafid; and, even if it were otherwise, it has always been 
supposed that they were equally property, and equally within the 
protection of the Constitution. If taxation is not a taking, it is 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 26l 

not the popular sense of the word which declares it not to be so. 
It is the constitutional meaning, only, that is referred to; and 
that is made to vary from the popular one, only on the admitted 
ground of the absurdity of compensation in that case, which 
absurdity itself depends entirely on the generality and entire 
equality of the burthen. 

"The Chief Justice does not, however, vouchsafe a protect- 
ing regard to the mere revenue of property. Its annual proceeds 
may be seized with impunity, but it is no taking. The owner 
may be stripped of the whole value by an incumbrance, but that 
is no worse. It is sufficient that he is allowed the consideration 
of a nominal proprietor, although he may be but the steward 
of the public for its management. The Constitution affords no 
remedy but for 'a direct seizure and absolute dispossession.' 
Why, even Shylock reasoned better, when the decree of confisca- 
tion was pronounced against him : 

" 'Nay, take my life and all, pardon not that. 
You take my house, when you do take the prop 
That doth sustain my house ; you take my life, 
When you do take the means whereby I live.' 

"The law is not, however, as stated by the Chief Justice. 
There is no case in Pennsylvania where it has been so held in 
regard to an incumbrance, and the case from 4th Hill, 147, which 
has been already cited, shows that the opposite doctrine is 
settled in New York. 

"Nor does the word 'deprived,' in the eleventh section of 
the ninth article, fare any better at the hands of the Chief 
Justice, than the unfortunate word 'taken.' It is no more, in his 
estimate, than a piece of vain tautology. 'It cannot be said,' 
he remarks, 'that a citizen is deprived of his property when he is 
left in the undisturbed possession of it.' Taxation is, of course, 
supposed to involve no disturbance. The mere possession, then, 
is all that, in his view, is intended to be protected, and it is of 
no consequence what may be the incumbrance, provided the 
owner is allowed the ordinary privileges of a tenant at the will 
of the Legislature, or its delegates. But if these words are not 
sufficient for the protection of the citizen, are there any others 
in the vocabulary of human rights, that could answer the pur- 
pose, in the estimation of a Judge who demands for a Bill of 
Rights all the technicality and precision of a criminal law? 

"It is admitted, however, by the Chief Justice, that private 
property cannot be taken for private use. This, he says, would 
be palpably unconstitutional, and so it has been, undoubtedly, 
decided. 



262 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

"But why is it unconstitutional? Is there anything in that 
instrument to forbid it? In the case of Harvey vs. Thomas, 10 
Watts, 63, the late Chief Justice Gibson says there is not; and 
when he afterward ruled the point otherwise, he put it mainly 
on the footing of the natural right. The present Chief Justice 
says there is; that it is not within the general grant of legisla- 
tive power; that it would be a gross usurpation of judicial 
authority; and that it would violate the very words of the 
eleventh section of the ninth article, which declares that 'no 
citizen shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, except by 
the judgment of his peers or the law of the land.' 

"All this is curious enough. He tells us, in the first place, 
that the general grant of legislative power would have made 
slaves of all of us, but for the express reservations ; and now he 
informs us, that the power of making a law for such a purpose, 
without reference to those reservations, does not pass, because 
it would not be [an] exercise of the law-making power at all ! 
'It would,' he says, 'be a usurpation of the judicial authority — a 
rescript, and not a law; and they could no more make it, than 
they could condemn an innocent man to death without trial.' 

"But how does he make it a judicial power? It may be 
admitted, if necessary, that the effect of some recent decisions 
of a majority of the same Court, may possibly have been to 
transfer the property of one man to another. It has not been 
understood, however, that the right of so appropriating it, has 
ever been openly claimed as a judicial power. Has the exertion 
of such a power anything to do with the interpretation or 
administration of the law? Does the calling a statute by the 
name of a rescript, make any difference? Is it the less a rule 
of civil conduct, prescribed by the supreme power? Would it 
be anything the less a law because it is so denominated ? Were 
bills of attainder and confiscation — now happily forbidden — no 
laws? Has the Judiciary any such power? How, then, are 
its rights invaded ? 

"But this is not all. The section of the Constitution, referred 
to as prohibitory of such legislation, has nothing to do with it 
whatever. When it provides that no citizen shall be 'deprived' 
of his property, &c. except by the judgment of his peers, or the 
law of the land, it does not abridge the powers of the Legislature, 
except so far as to prevent them from taking it in any other 
way, than through the agency of a jury, or by due process of 
law. Brown vs. Hummel, 6 Barr, 91. To interpret it literally, 
would be no restraint on the law-making power at all, because 
it would only require the form of a laiv, to nullify the provision, 
and accomplish the most outrageous injustice. 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 263 

"But the memory of the Chief Justice is a short one. He 
has just declared that the word 'deprived,' in the same section, 
does not extend to the impairing in value, incumbering, or any- 
thing short of an absolute dispossession. How, then, it may be 
asked, is it to afford protection here, if the Legislature should 
choose merely to charge the property of one man with a rent or 
annuity for the benefit of another ? 

"We have a case, then, admitted by the Chief Justice, 
wherein there is, in point of fact, no constitutional prohibition, 
and where, by the strongest implication from the provision in 
regard to public uses only, the power to take — and that, too, even 
without compensation — might be inferred; and it is submitted, 
whether the admission of this case, which does, in very fact, 
rest only on the great general principles of the Declaration of 
Rights, is not fatal to the rule of the Chief Justice, and equally 
fatal to all his conclusions ? 

"But the Chief Justice, in the next place, forgetting, appar- 
ently, that he has put this case upon the footing of a contract, 
now abandons that ground entirely, and takes refuge in the 
taxing power ; and this is, indeed, the true question upon which 
it must eventually turn. 

"It is affirmed by him, that this power is given to the Legis- 
lature without restriction, and to be used, therefore, at their 
discretion, without remedy for the abuse; and that it was not 
limited, because the exigencies of the Government cannot be 
limited. Allow me to say that it is not given at all. 'It is,' in 
the language of Lord Chatham, 'no part of the governing or 
legislative power.' 'Taxes are,' he says, 'the voluntary grant of 
the people alone.' The power of taxation is an incident of 
sovereignty only; and one of the grounds on which the Colonies 
resisted it, was, that the principles of taxation were essentially 
different from those of legislation, i Story's Com. sec. 196. 
The Chief Justice seems to have overlooked the very material 
fact, that the Constitution of Pennsylvania contains no such 
grant at all ; and that the power is merely an implied one, resting 
on the law of necessity, and limitable, therefore, by that law, 
as well as to its objects, as to its amount. The reason assigned 
for its supposed illimitability is, however, sufficient for my 
purpose, viz : that it is unlimited, because the exigencies of the 
Government are unlimited. 

"It is the exigencies of the Government only, therefore, that 
are to furnish the rule for its exercise; and, judged by that 
standard, what is to become of the laws in question? Is there 
anything in the exigencies of the Government to require or 



264 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

justify a partial imposition, such as these, for the general 
benefit ? 

"The Chief Justice is compelled, however, to admit that the 
whole of a public burthen cannot be thrown on a single individ- 
ual, under pretense of taxing him ; nor can one county be taxed 
for the benefit of another, nor one portion of the State to pay 
the debts of the whole State. And why? Is there anything in 
the Constitution to prohibit it? The Chief Justice says 'no;' 
but that these things are excepted from the powers of the Legis- 
lature, because they did not pass to them by the general grant 
of legislative power ; and that they did not pass, because an Act 
of Assembly, commanding or authorizing them to be done, 
would not be a law, but an attempt to pronounce a judicial 
sentence, order or decree. It is the theory, he admits, of a 
Republican Government, that taxes shall be laid equally, in pro- 
portion to the nature of property, and when collected, shall 
be applied only to purposes in which the tax-payers shall have 
an equal interest. 

"If Lord Chatham and the men of the Revolution were not 
mistaken, there is a still better reason for the opinion that such 
a power did not pass to the Legislature, and that is, that the 
general grant had nothing to do with the power of taxation at 
all. The Chief Justice might have stopped here, however, upon 
his admitted limitations of this illimitable power, and ruled the 
whole question the other way, and he would have had the merit 
of being consistent, at all events. If one county, or one part of 
the State, cannot be taxed for the benefit of another, then these 
laws are unconstitutional, and the fact that a part of the benefit 
was to the county or part specially taxed, would make no differ- 
ence. 

"But why would not an Act of Assembly, of the character 
suggested, be properly a law? Because it would be a judicial 
decree. The answer to the same objection, in the Rhode Island 
case, was, that it purported to be a law. But the same objection 
would apply to every tax law, however general. Wherein would 
it want any of the features of a law ? Would there be anything 
in its want of universality to change its character? Would it 
be no law, because it operated only on a particular community? 
If so, then all local legislation, as in the case of road laws, is no 
law-making at all; then the Acts establishing and enlarging the 
powers of municipal corporations, are no laws ; then the Acts 
authorizing the people of Allegheny county to be taxed to make 
a road in Somerset county, are no laws. Would it be no law, 
because it would be unequal and unjust, and was, therefore, a 
bad law? Would it be a law, if it were equal and universal? 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 265 

If it would, then it is no law, only because it violates the princi- 
ples of justice, and is palpably at war with the whole admitted 
theory of our institutions, and not because it is a mere abuse of 
power ; for that, he says, cannot be corrected. 

"But wherein would it resemble a judicial order, sentence 
or decree? Is it a question as to the interpretation of a law? 
Would it interfere, in any way, with the functions of the Judici- 
ary ? Would it involve the exercise of any power that belongs to 
them? Is it their business to impose taxes? And, if so, how is 
this claim of power to be reconciled with the prudish and fastid- 
ious refusal to interfere in the present case, on the ground that 
the Legislature has almost the omnipotence of the British Parlia- 
ment, and is the especial and exclusive judge of the manner and 
extent to which that power is to be exercised? It would have 
been a more sensible solution, to have said it was not a tax, 
because of its inequality — which is a necessary result of its not 
being a law — if he had not already declared that mere inequality 
is not examinable. 

"But the Chief Justice adopts the opinion of the Kentucky 
Judge, in Slack vs. Maysville and Lexington R. R. Co. that a 
tax law must be considered valid by the Courts, unless it be for 
a purpose in which the community taxed has 'palpably' no 
interest — where it is apparent that a tax thus imposed is for the 
benefit of others, and where it would be so pronounced 'at the 
first blush.' And this, according to his reasoning, must rest on 
the ground that it is then no law at all, and, of course, admits a 
jurisdiction in cases of abuse of power, which he has before 
repeatedly and solemnly denied ! 

"The assertion is, however, at variance with the previous 
paragraph of his own opinion. He there admits that the whole 
of a public burthen cannot be thrown on a single individual, 
and that one portion of the State cannot be taxed to pay the 
debt of the whole ; and now, he says, that a tax law must be 
considered valid, unless it be for a purpose in which the com- 
munity taxed has palpably no interest, which is certainly not the 
case where a part is taxed for the benefit of the whole ; and this 
inconsistency is excused only on the ground that an unjust law 
is no law at all, and that to pass an unjust law, is to encroach 
on the province of the Judiciary ! 

"If the case referred to, however, be one where the com- 
munity taxed may have some possible interest, and where the 
burthen is not imposed exclusively for the benefit of others, and 
it would be so pronounced 'at first blush,' then the present are 
precisely cases of that sort. No man in his right mind could 
sav that these taxes are not laid for the benefit of others, as 



266 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

well as of the community taxed; and if this be untrue, then the 
object itself is not a public one, and the tax would be, by the 
Judge's own showing unconstitutional. 

"But this admission involves a surrender of the whole ques- 
tion. It amounts, in effect, to a declaration that the Courts may 
declare a law unconstitutional, which is not positively forbidden, 
and that they may correct an abuse of power. If the thing 
may De done, where it is apparent, 'at first blush,' that a burthen 
is imposed for the benefit of others, then the right of the Court 
to interfere depends only on the extent or enormity of the 
usurpation, and the manner in which it happens to strike the 
mind of the particular Judge ; or, to speak more correctly, the 
very question of usurpation depends upon the comparative clear- 
ness of the evidence; which is, under the most favorable con- 
struction, an affirmance of the right to pronounce a tax law 
unconstitutional, provided it fall within the general and admitted 
rule, that the repugnancy must be a clear one. And this is in 
conformity with the doctrine of Pittsburgh vs. Scott, i Barr, 314. 

"It is further admitted by the Chief Justice that the Legis- 
lature has no constitutional right to create a public debt, or to 
lay a tax for a private purpose. And why? Because, as he 
affirms, no such authority passed by the general grant of legis- 
lative power — because it would not be legislation — and because 
taxation is a mode of raising revenue for public purposes. 
'When it is prostituted,' he says, 'to objects in no way connected 
with the public interests or welfare, it ceases to be taxation, 
and becomes plunder. Transferring money from the owners, 
into the possession of those who have no title to it, though it be 
done under the name and form of a tax, is unconstitutional, 
for all the reasons which forbid the Legislature to usurp any 
other power not granted to them.' 

"We do not dispute the doctrine. There is something to be 
said, however, in regard to the reasons by which it is enforced. 

"Why, then, may we ask, would not this be legislation? 
It would be an abuse of the taxing power, clearly, but it would 
be none the less legislation on that account, any more than tax- 
ation would be the less taxation, because its illegitimacy might 
entitle it to the character of 'plunder.' The idea of the Judge, 
upon which he furnishes a ready solution for repeated admis- 
sions and contradictions, is, that the abuse or usurpation of a 
legislative power, is no legislation at all. If he is right, then it 
is a solecism to say that any legislative enactment is in contra- 
vention of the Constitution. If it does not harmonize with that 
instrument, it is no exercise of the law-making power; or, in 
other words, it is — not a bad law — but, no laiv at all. He is 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 267 

constrained to admit, that many things would be clearly uncon- 
stitutional, which are not clearly and positively forbidden; and 
he accounts for them all, by declaring that they are not laws, 
and that the power to make them did not, therefore, pass by a 
grant which made the Legislature omnipotent ! But this assump- 
tion, that a law is not a law, besides being inconsistent with his 
idea of legislative omnipotence, would be an infinitely more 
dangerous power in the Judiciary, than even the one which he so 
studiously repudiates. AH that he would be required to say of a 
law, in order to nullify it, would be to give it a bad name, and 
call it 'plunder.' 

"But what does he mean, when he declares that the transfer 
of one man's money into the possession of another, who has 
no title to it, although under the name and form of a tax, would 
be unconstitutional, for all the reasons which forbid the Legisla- 
ture to usurp any other power not granted to them? He has 
already told us that the general grant carried every thing. How, 
then, can there be a usurpation, except it be merely of the things 
reserved? And where is the exception or reservation which 
applies here ? He has before assured us, that there is no limita- 
tion of the taxing power, and so says his brother Woodward. 

"But how does he make it out that taxation is a mode of 
raising revenue for public purposes only ? There is no authority 
for any such distinction in the Constitution. Unless there be 
something outside — something in the nature of the thing — to 
qualify or restrain, it makes no difference what the purpose is. 
A levy and assessment upon the property of the people, is a tax, 
whether the purpose be public or private, legal or illegal. When 
the Kings of England undertook to dispense with Parliaments, 
and to make arbitrary exactions from their subjects, for their 
own private purposes, was it ever denied that these were taxes ? 
If the inquiry, however, be as to legal taxation, that is another 
question; and, in regard to that, we will not differ, because the 
Chief Justice here discards his own rule, by looking outside, 
and taking a common-sense view of the Constitution. 

But why is it, that, to make a tax legal, the purpose must 
be a public one? The Constitution, as already remarked, says 
nothing about it ; and it is, perhaps, for this reason, that the 
power is claimed to be unlimited and discretionary. There is a 
limitation, then, zvhich is not in the Constitution. The instincts 
of the Chief Justice tell him so; and where is this limitation to 
be found? Why, in the very nature and origin of the power 
itself. It is an implied power, resting, like the right of eminent 
domain, on the law of public necessity, and limited and deter- 
minable in its exercise by that law. If the Judge is right in his 



268 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

premises, it may be used for any purpose. By his own admission, 
however, it cannot. He decides, therefore, in effect, that there 
is something in the theory and genius of our institutions — in the 
objects and purposes of our Government — and in the nature of 
the power itself — which renders an express prohibition unnec- 
essary. 

"But, although it is admitted by the Chief Justice, that the 
Legislature cannot either lay or authorize a tax for a mere 
private purpose, and that Rail Road Companies are themselves 
but private corporations, it is asserted that they have a public 
use, and that it is not the quality of the corporation, but its use 
or purpose, which is to determine the obligation of the com- 
munity to be taxed for its assistance. 

"It is not denied that rail roads may have a public use, and 
that it is on this ground only that the exercise of the right of 
eminent domain, or, rather, its delegation for their benefit, can 
be sustained — if it can be sustained on just principles at all. If 
it were an open question, it might puzzle the Chief Justice him- 
self to meet some of the objections which might be urged against 
it. He is entitled, however, to all the advantage which a favor- 
able settlement of this point can give him. 

"It may be admitted, then, without damage to the principal 
question, that any given community may be taxed in aid of the 
construction of a road, exclusively within its own limits, and 
that the whole may be taxed in aid of a work of the like descrip- 
tion, whether it be, in its extent, either partial or general. The 
difference, however, between the case put, and those under dis- 
cussion, is palpable. In the former, they are subjected to a 
burthen, which is temporary and relievable, upon a change of 
public opinion, or a change of masters. The mere power of 
annual taxation is as nothing in a free Government, where it is 
controllable by the principle of equality in the distribution. In 
the latter case, however, they are burthened with o permanent 
debt, for the purchase of a private stock, and compelled, as a 
necessary consequence of the doctrine, to mortgage their posses- 
sions for the acquisition of a private property, in regard to 
which, they do, and must stand, in the relation of private pro- 
prietors only, and by which rights are acquired that cannot be 
taken away, and must, in their operation, eventually turn their 
Charter into a contract, oust the powers of the Legislature, and 
defeat its own legitimate purposes, by converting it, pro tanto, 
into a private corporation. For the burthens thus imposed, there 
is, moreover, no relief, for the very reason that they are partial, 
and that the sufferers are thus cut off from the sympathy of 
their masters, whose tyranny, according to the Chief Justice, is 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 269 

only to be corrected by giving to the helpless and defenseless 
victim — the spoiled and trembling vassal — the privilege of 
'scourging' his armed and multitudinous, unsuffering and unsym- 
pathizing oppressors, 'into retirement' — if he can ! The power 
exerted in this w^ay, is infinitely more portentous than that of 
mere taxation, in its ordinary forms, even in the w^ildest example 
of its exercise which the world has ever witnessed. It is a 
perpetual mortgage of the property of the citizen — a deep and 
incurable ulcer — a consuming cancer, eating into the vitals of 
the community. The distinction was not overlooked by the 
eloquent and philosophic Burke. 'To mortgage the public reve- 
nue,' he remarks in his pamphlet on the French Revolution, 
'implies the sovereign dominion, in the fullest sense, over the 
public purse. It goes far beyond the trust even of a temporary 
and occasional taxation.' 

"The most pertinent answer, however, to the allegation that 
the use is a public one, is the letter of the Chief Justice himself, 
to the Commissioners of Somerset county, in which he denounces 
these subscriptions expressly as 'a system of creating public 
debts, for private purposes.' 

"It is alleged, however, by the Chief Justice, as a duty of 
the State, to aid, encourage and stimulate commerce; and it is 
asked whether, inasmuch as the State may delegate to a private 
corporation the right of making a road, and aid it by a subscrip- 
tion, which involves an exertion of the taxing power, as well 
as by the right of eminent domain, it may not, with more justice 
and greater propriety, and with as clear a constitutional right, 
allozv a portion of the people to tax themselves to promote, in 
a similar manner, a work in which they have a special interest? 
And this question, he thinks, cannot be answered in the 
negative. 

"Nor is it essential to our purpose that it should be. We 
affirm it, as a matter of course. It is not, indeed, very obvious 
how the Legislature is to prevent a man from taxing himself, if 
he thinks proper, or why he should require their permission. 
But that is, unfortunately, not the question which was before 
him. It is not a question whether the people may be allowed to 
tax themselves for a public work, in which they may have a 
special interest; but whether they may be taxed against their 
will, by the agents or appointees of the Legislature, for a public 
work in which the Legislature itself, or its agents, may suppose 
them to have a special interest. He says he cannot conceive of 
a reason for doubting that what the State may do in aid of a 
work of general utility, may be done by a county or city for a 
similar work, which is especially useful to such county or city. 



270 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

provided the State permits it to be done by their local authori- 
ties — thereby putting it again upon the ground of assent, which 
is not now the question, and which has been already shown to be 
utterly indefensible, as the present argument proves it to have 
been abandoned. 

"Perhaps, however, I can furnish him with the reason which 
he has failed to discover. The State may, undoubtedly, aid a 
work within its own boundaries. To go beyond, for purposes of 
international commerce, would be to invade, either the sover- 
eignty of its sisters, or the prerogatives of the Federal Govern- 
ment. If the county or city were co-extensive with the State, 
the reason might be wanting. But for a county or city, which is 
but a small part, to do what the State may, would be to invest 
it with extra-territorial powers and capacities, of a much higher 
order, comparatively, than any which belong to the State itself; 
and it might be replied, with equal force, that, if a mere local 
corporation may be authorized to extend its operation beyond 
its own boundaries, there is no reason for doubting that the State 
might be authorized to do the same thing. The State is acting 
upon a matter within its jurisdiction. It is doing what the Judge 
says is a duty. The corporation, on the other hand, would be 
acting, not merely beyond its jurisdiction, but entirely beyond 
its sphere, and outside of the line of its appropriate duties. The 
permitting it to be done, moreover, is, where the agent is named 
by the Legislature, equivalent to a command, when done. Nor 
does the reference to the local authorities make any difference. 
They are not the local authorities for any such purpose. They 
are, pro hac vice, the agents of the Legislature — deriving their 
powers, not from the people, or from their assent, but from the 
Legislature alone. And, therefore, the proposition is, that what 
the State may do, it may compel a county or city to do, if it 
.should suppose the work to be especially useful to them, although 
it is admitted to be for the benefit of the whole. 

"It has been repeatedly remarked by the Chief Justice, that 
such and such things are not an exercise of the law-making 
power. If this language be admissible in any case, it may be said, 
with equal propriety in regard to the legislation complained of 
here — neither is this. It is, in point of fact, nothing but the 
grant of a special privilege — a mere incorporeal right, involving 
nothing of the nature or definition of a law at all — a privilege, 
in one view of the Chief Justice, given to A to tax B, and in the 
other to B, to allow himself to be taxed by A. 

"It might have been expected, in all fairness, that the Chief 
Justice would have taken his stand upon some one principle. 
Feeling, however, that his footing is not a firm one, he rests on 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 271 

one limb until it begins to tremble under him, and then shifts 
over to the other. Now, it is merely a permission to the people 
to make a contract, and to tax themselves. When this ground 
fails, he throws himself on the compulsory obligation, and the 
exertion of the taxing power; and thus it is that we are to be 
ground to death between two contradictory propositions, which 
are made to supplement and fortify each other, as the occasion 
happens to demand. We are doomed, apparently, to perish in 
some way; and if he cannot drive us to suicide by putting the 
knife in our own hands, he seems determined, at all events, that 
the sword of the Legislature shall be invoked to consummate the 
sacrifice. 

"It is asserted, in the next place, by the Chief Justice, that 
the powers of a municipal corporation may be enlarged by the 
Legislature— not so 'as to enable the corporate authorities to 
embark the city in a private business, or to make the people pay 
for a thing in which they have no interest— but that, zvithin these 
limits, there is nothing to prevent an indefinite extension of 
them.' 

"The limitation here admitted, is at war with the opinion of 
his associate. Woodward. Assuming it to be correct, the answer 
is, that a subscription to a rail road is necessarily a private 
business, whether made by a corporation or an individual, and 
without reference to the possible public uses of the road itself, 
for the obvious reason that it involves the acquisition of a private 
property, which is beyond the power of the Legislature, and 
converts the corporation into a common carrier, with all the 
hazards and_ responsibilities of that relation. The authority for 
this answer is to be found in the concurring opinion of the same 
Judge Woodward! A further answer, however, is, that, under 
the rule just stated, they may be compelled to pay the whole, 
on the hypothesis that they have any interest at all, although 
that interest may be, confessedly, a trivial one. 

"But what is the power of the Legislature over municipal 
corporations ? A charter, of that description, is already shown to 
be no contract. If it were, it could not be changed at all, without 
the assent of the corporation. Although, however, it is no more 
than a mere delegation of governmental powers, it is affirmed 
by the Chief Justice, that these powers may be enlarged, with no 
other limitation than as already stated. If this be so, then the 
Legislature may abdicate its trust entirely, and turn over all the 
affairs of Government to these corporations— may make them, 
indeed, in all respects, equal with itself— nay, greater; because 
it may authorize them to do what it could not do itself; and this, 
too, not on the footing of assent, but in virtue of its own sover- 



272 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

eign, transcendental and unquestionable power, and in contra- 
vention of their expressed will. 

"But what is a private business, and where is the case in 
which the corporation has no interest, in the opinion of the 
Chief Justice? If the object be to promote the interests of 
commerce, he asserts that it is a public one; and the establish- 
ment of a steam boat or a stage line, would, on the same princi- 
ple, be as legitimate as a rail road. Nay, if it were even a 
question of the establishment of 'a tavern, store, mill, or black- 
smith shop,' which are cited by him as mere cases of 'private 
enterprise,' in which the right of eminent domain cannot, for 
that reason, be conferred, the result would be the same, because 
these are alike aids to commerce or trade, as well as other 
departments of industry, which the Government is equally bound 
to encourage ! Nor can any ingenuity of the Chief Justice avail 
to extricate him from the exceedingly awkward dilemma, and 
the no less absurd consequences and contradictions, into which 
his own principles inevitably carry him. He may stand sullenly 
upon his opinion, and refuse to confess and repair the error, 
but he cannot defend it. 

"But still further. If the obligation of Government to 
encourage trade or commence, upon which he puts the right of 
taxing a given community in aid of it, is not sufficient to entitle 
the 'tavern, store, mill, or blacksmith shop' to be saddled upon 
that community, without the element of a special interest, it is 
not necessary even to locate it within the jurisdiction which is 
taxed for its support. It is sufficient that the Legislature, and 
its agents, have decided. As those who bestow the power, and 
those selected by them for its exercise, are to be the sole judges 
of the interest, wherever it is once given and exercised, there 
is, of course, an end of the question; because that is a decision 
upon the point of public and special interest. Wherever they act, 
they have decided. 

"It is, however, not merely admitted, but insisted, by the 
Chief Justice, that if it be the interest which is to decide, the 
location is unimportant. And he is right there, upon his princi- 
ples; not for the reasons which he assigns, but for the better 
and more conclusive reason, which has been just suggested — if 
his own Court had not already decided otherwise, in the case 
of M'Dcrmond and Kennedy, Brightly's R. 332. 

"Disregarding, however, a solemn adjudication of the same 
Court, which did decide this question, and no other, viz : the 
question of interest, simply as affected by location, and not the 
abstract right of subscription, the Chief Justice proceeds to 
illustrate this extravagant and revolting proposition, by suggest- 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 2/3 

ing that, if the City of Philadelphia cannot have an interest in 
a road which stops in the Northern Liberties, then Dock ward 
cannot have an interest in one which terminates in Delaware 
ward, and all the subdivisions of the city may be exempted on 
the same score. Let us examine this argument. 

"If it were a question of taxing a mere ward of a city, or one 
corporation to make a road or improvement in another, the case 
would furnish a reasonable analogy, and the party thus taxed 
might very properly rebel. The Chief Justice, however, forgets 
that the wards in question are both parts of the same city. He 
cannot deny that what she may do for the whole, she may do for 
a part, at the expense of the zvhole, although she may not do it 
at the exclusive expense of another part. If it were not so, no 
corporation could pave a single street, or even all its streets, in 
any other way, than by one simultaneous act, which would be 
almost physically impossible. It is not true, therefore, that Dock 
ward might, in the case put, be exempted on the same score 
any more than it is true that any one part of the State could be 
exempted, because a State work did not pass through it. It is 
only on the footing of the general interest, that a tax could be 
laid at all ; and if a road made through one county only, was not 
for the general interest, it could not be made at the general 
expense. The Judge cannot, apparently, see that the whole is 
necessarily composed of parts, which are comprehended within 
It With him, it is pars pro toto, and a part only includes the 
whole. If It be true, however, as affirmed by him. that a city 
has the same interest in a road outside, as if it were within 
then the argument necessarily renders the power illimitable, and 
shows that there is nothing, within the range of human imagi- 
nation, in which she may not have an interest. 

"The illimitability of the power is, however, a necessary 
inference from the remark, that 'it is enough to know that the 
city may have a public interest in the enterprise projected, and 
that there is not a palpable and clear absence of all possible 
interest, preceptible by every mind, at first blush.' There is no 
imaginable project, though it were a rail road to San Francisco 
and a line of steamers thence to China, in which, under this 
view, the city might not be claimed to have a possible interest 
And It IS enough, according to his judgment, that the point 'has 
been settled by her own officers and by the Legislature-' the 
effect of all which is, to convict the Judge of an absurdity, in 
admitting that a community cannot be taxed for that in which 
It has no interest, because it decides that the occurrence of any 
such case is impossible. 



274 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

"It would, moreover, he suggests, be a novel jurisdiction, to 
listen to an appeal from the Councils on a point of local policy, 
or to declare a law unconstitutional, because the corporate 
authorities mistook the true interest of their constituents. 

"I beg leave to say to the Chief Justice, that it is, as he well 
knows, no new jurisdiction, to hold the authorities of a corpora- 
tion to the purposes of its charter, when their notions of policy 
prompt them to do that which is not within the scope of its 
institution, although they might seek to defend themselves under 
the color of a legislative license. Nor is it a fair statement of 
the question to say that the Court was asked to declare a law 
unconstitutional, because these authorities had mistaken the 
interest of their constituents. They are, pro hac vice, as already 
remarked, only the agents of the Legislature, and may, or may 
not be, the proper authorities of the corporation. For these 
purposes, certainly, they are not so, if they do not legitimately 
fall within the scope of a municipal administration. The ques- 
tion is, whether they exceeded their just powers, in passing 
beyond their appropriate jurisdiction, on the hypothesis that they 
might do whatever either they or the Legislature might adjudge 
to be for the interest of the community ; and not, whether they 
made a mistake in the exercise of a discretion vested in them by 
the law, in a case clearly within their jurisdiction. And if this 
is an answer to the appeal, there is no abuse of power, which the 
officers of a corporation, either public or private, may not perpe- 
trate with impunity. 

"But the Chief Justice insists that we must take it for 
granted, that the Councils and Mayor have fairly represented 
the majority of their constituents ; admitting, however, that their 
acts may operate with great hardship on the minority, but assert- 
ing that, in this country, it is private affairs only, and not public 
ones, that are exempt from the domination of majorities; and 
confessing 'that the power of piling up these enormous burthens 
on the people ought not, perhaps, to exist in any department of 
the Government, and that, if our fathers had foreseen the fatal 
degeneracy of their sons, it can scarcely be doubted that some 
restrictions on it would have been imposed.' 

"And why must it be taken for granted that the authorities 
referred to have fairly represented the majority? The people 
themselves have not been allowed to pass upon these questions, 
and the presumption that they would have approved, is repelled 
by the significant fact that the privilege of passing upon them, 
was, in every instance, cunningly denied to them. Is any 
approval, then, to be inferred from the circumstance, that the 
officers selected are men of their own choice? That inference 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 275 

would be a fair one, so far as regarded the exercise of any 
power belonging to the office at the period of the election. For 
anything beyond, however, and out of the line of their proper 
administrative functions — for any new, unusual, and extraor- 
dinary power, bestowed by the Legislature, upon the individual, 
what plausible reason can be urged for inferring the assent of 
those who could not have anticipated it, did not confer it, were 
not consulted, and not even allowed the privilege of dissent? 
In some cases, the power has been bestowed on County Com- 
missioners ; in others, upon Grand Juries, who are not even 
chosen by the people, but are selected and drawn from a wheel 
by the Sheriff and Commissioners. Is there any presumption 
of assent in these cases ? They do not differ, however, in princi- 
ple, from the former. These men are all but the agents or 
appointees of the Legislature for this purpose, and it is equally 
idle and uncandid to assume the assent of a majority of the 
people, as an apology for this species of oppression. If it cannot 
be defended on better ground, the defense ought to have been 
abandoned. 

"It is not disputed, of course, that in this country, it is 
private affairs only, and not public ones, which are exempt from 
the domination of majorities. It seems to be forgotten, however, 
that it is upon this exemption that the rights and liberties of the 
individual citizen mainly depend. The idea of a majority rule, 
is a purely political one. The chances of oppression are, it is 
true, diminished in proportion as we approach the ideal line of 
unanimity ; but, short of that, there is no special magic — no 
more inherent virtue, in the awards of a majority, than in the 
government of the monos, or the oligoi, or the aristoi. The 
secret of our freedom does not consist, as is supposed by Justice 
Woodward, in the exercise of the powers of legislation, through 
our own Representatives. He is but an ill-read statesman who 
would look for our securities there. All experience proves that 
there is no tyranny more grinding than that which may be 
exercised by a triumphant majority, and that it is only in the 
restraints to which it is subjected, that freedom can ever find 
repose. It is passing strange, therefore, that, in view of so 
important a fact — that it is private affairs only — the very affairs 
which Government was designed to protect, and without which, 
it would be but an expensive, and worse than useless machine — 
that are exempt from the domination of majorities — the Chief 
Justice of Pennsylvania should have sought to circumscribe the 
narrow circle of exemptions, and consented to sacrifice the end 
to the means ! It was the brave Madam Roland, I believe, who 
exclaimed, as she was led to the scaffold, 'Oh, Liberty ! Liberty ! 



276 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

how many crimes are perpetrated in thy name !' How much 
more reason have the victims of the governmental principle o£ 
a majority, so applied, to repeat the language of a great states- 
man and 'lawyer of the Revolutionary era — himself a signer of 
the immortal Charter of our Independence, and a member of 
the Convention which framed both the Federal Constitution and 
our own — who, in view of the like abuses of construction, was 
forced to exclaim: 

" 'How often has the end been sacrificed to the means ! 
Government was instituted for the happiness of society. How 
often has the happiness of society been offered as a victim, to the 
idol of government ! But this is not agreeable to the true order 
of things. It is not consistent with the orthodox political creed. 
Let Government — let even the Constitution, be as they ought to 
be — the handmaids ; let them not be — for they ought not to be — 
the mistresses of the State.' i Wilson's Works, 304. 

"The confession, that this monstrous power ought not, per- 
haps, to exist in any department of our Government, is a precious 
one, which ought, in reason, to have borne more satisfactory 
fruit, than a mere expression of condolence and commiseration. 
The suggestion, however, that, if our fathers had foreseen the 
fatal degeneracy of their sons, it is scarcely to be doubted that 
some restrictions on it would have been imposed, is a reflection 
upon their wisdom, which the successful result of their labors 
has not heretofore deserved — and, which seems to come with no 
very peculiar grace, from the very first of our Judges, who have 
verified their want of forecast or sagacity. It is doubtless true, 
that, if they could have foreseen the possibility of such a 
degeneracy of Republican sentiment — such an entire oblivion of 
the memorials of their own struggles, as to have led their 
descendants into the notion that they had lost their liberties by 
the Revolution, and that there was nothing left now to us, but 
the very letter of the reservations made by them for our security 
— that the Government was everything, and the people nothing — 
and that in every conflict between them, the former was to be 
favored in the construction, and the latter sacrificed — they would 
have pretermitted the Declaration of Rights, as an instrument of 
mischief, instead of a safeguard of liberty. To have amended 
it, in such a manner, as to meet every possible case of usurpation, 
by a positive interdict, or to satisfy the requirements of the Chief 
Justice of Pennsylvania, would have been utterly impossible. 
They might have spun it out to the dimensions of the whole 
body of the Civil and Canon Laws — code, digest, institutes, 
pandects, glosses, rescripts, decretals, and all. It would have 
been in vain. They would have exhausted their own ingenuity. 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 2// 

before they could have exhausted the superior inventions and 
resources of tyranny. Their work, however, has stood for nearly 
a century, without the discovery of this capital defect, which the 
last year only has developed. The securities which they have 
thrown around our rights, in the shape of general principles, 
have been found adequate to every exigency for which they have 
been invoked ; and after this long experience, it would seem to be 
at least more reasonable, if there is a breach now made through 
these defenses, to set it down to the account of the negligence 
of the sentinels, than to the weakness of the intrenchments ; 
as it would be, certainly, more modest to doubt our own wisdom, 
than to question theirs. 

"Having thus disposed of the opinion of the Chief Justice, 
I come now to that of his brother Woodward, which I propose to 
examine, mainly for the purpose of showing, as already 
remarked, that upon the admissions of the former, the latter 
would have ruled the question the other way; while upon the 
premises of the latter, the Chief Justice would have paid him the 
same compliment. 

"While the obligatory force of these Acts of Assembly, is put, 
by the Chief Justice, on the hypothesis that they convey a mere 
permission to the local communities, to make a contract for 
themselves, and upon the footing of a supposed assent on the 
part of a majority of the people, who are to be affected, his 
associate, who now commands our attention, with a directness, 
candor and courage, which do him, perhaps, more credit than 
the force or ingenuity of his argument, marches up at once to 
the encounter of the true issue, which he is called upon to meet, 
and admits that the case involves no other question than one of 
mere naked pozver — and that, the power of taxation only. 
"His argument is briefly this : 

"That the Acts in question do involve, in their consequences, 
a taking of property : 

"That there are but two modes in which it can be lawfully 
taken — one, by virtue of the right of eminent domain, and the 
other, by the exercise of the taxing power : That it is not taken, 
in the present case, by force of the former, because that has 
respect to the property of individuals, of all descriptions, except 
money, and is regulated by the public exigencies: That it is 
taken by virtue of the latter only, which regards the whole com- 
munity, or whole classes, takes nothing but money, except so 
far as other property may be sold to pay it, and is regulated by 
some standard prescribed by lazv: 

"That taxation is a legislative power, not named in the Con- 



278 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

stitution, but existing ex necessitate, and not taken away by the 
Declaration of Rights: 

"That it cannot, of course, be delegated, but may be exer- 
cised through agencies, which is not delegation, but rather exer- 
cise, and, in providing for the re-payment of borrowed moneys, 
is rather of the nature of an executive power: 

"That the purpose of these Acts is, clearly, not a municipal 
one. There is no congruity whatever, between their objects 
and the legitimate purposes of municipal corporations, which are 
designed to regulate only the internal affairs of the places in 
which they are located, and whose jurisdiction is properly exer- 
cised only within their territorial limits, and over subjects which 
pertain to their domestic economy and well being: 

"That the power of taxation is, however, unlimited, both as 
to extent and purpose — that municipal corporations are, more- 
over, not defined by law — that the power of the Legislature to 
enlarge their functions and extend their privileges is unlimited 
under the Constitution, and indefinable by the Judiciary — that 
these Acts are not to be set aside, because they do not harmonize 
with the judicial notions of a municipal purpose — and that upon 
grounds so low as the equivocal and undefined purposes of 
municipal corporations, the like has never been done : 

"That, moreover, the Declaration of Rights is not to be set 
up against a tax law: That there is nothing there to restrain 
the power of taxation, and nothing alarming in this circum- 
stance: That our only security is in the principle of popular 
representation — that it is this which makes us free, and a reli- 
ance on this, which has left this enormous power without stint: 
That it has been always used for beneficial purposes, and it is 
not clear that it may not, in the present instances, however 
incongruous, be productive of good: And that it is altogether 
certain, that it cannot be long abused, because 'so long as the 
people rule themselves, it is impossible to anticipate that they 
will employ any of the powers of Government for their own 
oppression.' 

"My purpose is not to review the opinion of Justice Wood- 
ward. It presents some salient points, however, which are so 
obnoxious to, and so provocative of criticism, that it is almost 
impossible to resist the temptation to bring them under the 
operation of the dissecting knife. 

"His suggestion, for instance, that the right of eminent 
domain has no respect to money, because the compensation must 
be in money, is the result of a grave blunder in political 
science. He looks for the definition of that right in the Constitu- 
tion. It does not seem to have occurred to him, that it is an 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 2/9 

essential attribute of all sovereignty, and is only qualified by 
the provision as to compensation; that it is inherent, inal- 
ienable, indefinable, and, of course, illimitable, like the power 
of taxation, except by the legitimate exigencies of the Govern- 
ment; that if these exigencies require money, it is no where 
provided that it may not be taken, as well as anything else ; and 
that, if taken, it may be as well recompensed in kind, although 
no more than money for money. 

"His distinction, however, between this right and that of 
taxation, that the former affects individuals, and the latter the 
whole community, or whole classes, is a confession that the Acts 
in question are not legitimate taxation, because they do not 
affect the whole community, or even an entire class, unless he 
intends, by individuals, something less than the inhabitants of 
a particular district, and by the whole community, only a part of 
the society or governing power, by which the laws are made. 
The distmction, rightly understood, is admitted to be a sound 
one ; and it is precisely upon this, that the exercise of the power 
clanned here— if legitimate at all— is to be set down to the 
account only of the right of eminent domain, and to be employed, 
therefore, if employed at all, upon the condition of compensa- 
tion to the victims. 

"The admission, moreover, that a power like this is not sub- 
ject to delegation,vf\\\\t it is claimed, at the same time, to be exer- 
cisable by agencies, is another curious feature of the argument. 
If the learned Judge had vouchsafed to explain the difference 
between an agency and a delegation, we might, perhaps, have 
understood him. If he had put the case of the performance of 
a mere ministerial function, every well-read lawyer would at 
once have recognized a case of lawful delegation, without even 
suspecting a distinction between such a devolution of power, 
and any other case of agency. He could not, however, put it 
very consistently on that footing. It was too clearly a discre- 
tionary power to tax, and not a mere power of assessment or 
collection. It was a quasi-legislative power, at all events. As a 
legislative power, however, it could not, of course, be delegated. 
and^it is accordingly converted into an executive power. 

"The strangest part of the argument, however, is that which 
refers to the power of the Legislature over municipal corpo- 



rations. 



"It is admitted, that the purpose of these Acts is clearly not 
a municipal one; but it is claimed, that, inasmuch as municipal 
purposes are not defined by law, and the power of taxation, and 
the authority to extend their privileges, are alike unlimited by 



28o THOMAS WILLIAMS 

the Constitution, their purposes may be changed, and that made 
a municipal one, which was not so before. 

"It has been no very unusual thing to hear extravagant 
claims set up in favor of legislative power, from the era of 
Justice Blackstone down to that of Chief Justice Black; but 
there is nothing, we think, in the opinion of any prerogative 
lawyer who has yet spoken, which will compare with this idea 
of Justice Woodward. The great English Commentator, in 
expatiating on the omnipotence of the British Parliament, reins 
up at the impossible. The Judge, whose opinion we are now 
examining, stops short at no such obstacle. He spurs his fiery 
courser up to the line of the moral impossible, and clears it at a 
bound. In his view, the Legislature can alter, not merely the 
name, but the very nature of things. They can disturb and 
overturn all moral relations, change the uses of language, 
make that municipal which is admitted to be essentially not 
municipal, and turn a public corporation into a private one, 
without changing its character ! Why, even Omnipotence itself 
could not accomplish such a feat as this, any more than it could 
convert a man into a brute, without his ceasing to be a man. 

"To say that municipal corporations are not defined by law, 
is to hold language which could scarcely have been expected 
from so respectable a lawyer as Judge Woodward. If the 
lexicographers will not answer the purpose, it is not for me, 
certainly, to inform him that the meaning of the phrase is so 
well ascertained in the law books, as to have become the basis 
of a most important distinction as to the right of interference 
by the Legislature with the Constitution of corporate bodies. 
He has not ventured even a doubt himself, as to their objects. 
He does not hesitate to define their appropriate jurisdiction and 
purposes, and to declare that the Acts complained of are entirely 
foreign to them. He is estopped, therefore, from asserting that 
these purposes are either equivocal or undefinable. 

"When he affirms, however, that these Acts are not to be set 
aside, because they do not harmonize with the judicial notion of 
a municipal purpose, and that, 'upon grounds so low,' no Act 
of Assembly has ever been declared unconstitutional, he not 
only forgets that it is precisely upon the distinction between 
a public or municipal corporation and a private one, that the 
whole power of the Legislature depends — that the Charter of the 
former is not a contract, but a mere delegation of governmental 
powers, to which there is but one party, and which, for that 
reason, may be conferred, enlarged, abridged or withdrawn, at 
the pleasure of the Legislature ; but he forgets, also, that when- 
ever the question arises as to the right to intermeddle, without 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 28l 

the assent of the whole body, it must be decided by himself, as a 
Judge, upon the footing of those very 'equivocal and undefined 
purposes,' which are now supposed by him to be too low for 
judicial_ consideration. When he admits that the purposes of 
these Acts are not municipal, he surrenders the whole question, 
and decides, in effect, that they are not constitutional; and no 
ingenuity can save him from this consequence. 

"The next, and last feature of the argument, upon which I 
shall observe, is the remark, that the Declaration of Rights is 
not to be set up against a tax law; and this is, perhaps, a fair 
result of the notion, that while the right of eminent domain is 
regulated by the public exigencies, the exercise of the taxing 
power is regulated by something else — by some standard pre- 
scribed by lazv; or, in other words, by no measure at all. If 
it be true that this enormous power may be wielded, at the 
pleasure of the Legislature, without regard to the public exigen- 
cies, and to the oppression of any given portion of the people, 
then it is unquestionable that there is nothing in the Declaration 
of Rights, or anywhere else, that can be set up successfully 
against a tax law. To say that it may be, however, is more 
than the Chief Justice himself has ventured to maintain — more, 
perhaps, than could reasonably have been expected from an 
American Judge — and more, certainly, than can be safely or 
consistently admitted by any people pretending to be free. 

"We are assured, however, that there is nothing alarming 
in all this — that it is a reliance on the principle of popular rep- 
resentation — which makes us free, and is our best security, at 
last — that has left this enormous power without stint; and that 
there is no danger of its abuse, for the reason, that the people are 
not likely to employ any of the powers of Government for their 
own oppression. 

"It is difficult to decide, upon the reading of this passage, 
whether it is most distinguished by its forgetfulness of the 
reasons which led to the adoption of our Constitution, with its 
nice distribution of power, and the complicated system of 
checks and balances, by which it is distinguished, or by the 
total oblivion of the teachings of all history, which it betrays. 
If the Judge is right, all limitations, and, therefore, all Constitu- 
tions, which are, in effect, but limitations of the power of major- 
ities, are worse than useless. When he asserts that it is the 
principle of popular representation which makes us free, he 
discloses a faith in the integrity of the Representative, and the 
moderation and forbearance of majorities, which partakes more 
of the charity which is blind to our infirmities, than of the 
knowledge which edifies and saves; and with it, a feeling of 



282 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

security, which was not shared with him by the founders of our 
RepubHc. When he alleges that the most formidable of all the 
powers of Government has been left unguarded, on the assur- 
ance that it was impossible for the agents of the people to abuse 
their trust, he impeaches the wisdom of every restraint to which 
they have been subjected. And, to crown all, when he informs 
us, that so long as the people rule themselves, it is impossible 
to anticipate that they will employ any of the powers of Govern- 
ment for their own oppression, he employs a topic of consolation, 
which is only intelligible, so long as taxation is equal and uni- 
versal, and is entirely unmeaning, upon the theory of partial 
impositions, and illimitable power, to which he has just given his 
express and emphatic sanction. 

"The argument of the Chief Justice, admits that the taxing 
power is not unlimited — that the Legislature has no constitu- 
tional right to lay or authorize a tax for a mere private purpose — 
that the whole of a public burthen cannot be thrown on a 
single individual, or one county taxed to pay the debt of another, 
or one portion of the State, to pay the debts of the whole— that 
a tax law would be invalid for a purpose in which the commu- 
nity taxed have palpably no interest, or where it is apparent that 
a burthen is imposed for the benefit of others — that location 
does not determine the question of interest— and that the charter 
of a municipal corporation cannot be so enlarged, as to enable 
the corporate authorities to embark it in a private business, or 
to make the people pay for a thing in which they have no 
interest. 

"Judge Woodward repudiates all these exceptions, rejects 
all qualifications, even to that of equality of burthen, and 
expressly declares that the power of taxation is absolutely 
illimitable, and that there is nothing in the Declaration of 
Rights which can be set up against a tax law; and therefore 
it is, that he sustains the legislation in question, without regard 
to any of these considerations. On the hypothesis of the Chief 
Justice, however, he must have decided otherwise. He does not 
undertake to say — because he does not regard it as material — 
whether these Acts involve any inequality of burthen; but he 
does say, that they convert the municipality into a member of 
a merely private corporation, by making it a common carrier, 
with all the hazards and responsibilities of that relation, 
that the purpose is one which is incongruous and inap- 
propriate, and that rail roads, to connect distant points of 
country, to develop physical resources, and to promote com- 
merce, come not within, or near to that class of objects, which 
we have been taught to consider as municipal purposes. He 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 283 

thus declares, in effect, if not in terms, that the business is a 
private one — as it unquestionably is — and that it does not con- 
cern the municipality — which is only a translation of the term 
interest into plainer English. He thinks, it is true, that mere 
legislation may change the nature of all this, so as to render a 
private and extra-territorial business a municipal one, and, 
therefore, he sustains it upon grounds which the Chief Justice 
admits to be untenable — while, upon the admissions of the 
latter, he must most unreservedly have condemned it. 

"And so, too, e converso, upon the admissions of Judge 
Woodward, that the business is a private one, and one which 
does not properly concern a municipal corporation, as such, 
must the Chief Justice, with his acknowledged limitations of the 
legislative power of taxation in such case, have pronounced 
the legislation in question to be unconstitutional. And such, 
also, would doubtless have been the result of his argument, if 
he had treated the question in its rigor, like his brother Wood- 
ward, upon the footing of a mere exercise of the taxing power, 
instead of softening it down into a mere act of gracious conde- 
scension on the part of the law-giver, in vouchsafing to the 
community the lofty privilege of taxing themselves — by con- 
struction. 

"Setting out, therefore, from opposite poles, the Judges in 
question have drifted into the same channel, and made ship- 
wreck of our institutions and fortunes, upon the same fatal and 
inhospitable shore. If it had been their fortunes — and ours — to 
start together from the premises of either, they must inevitably 
have parted company on the voyage, and one of them, at least, 
have joined hands with his two dissenting brethren, in upholding 
the pillars of the Constitution, and maintaining the sacred 
guarantees of property. They have agreed, however, in decid- 
ing that it is without security, and that one of the declared pur- 
poses of our Government has failed, through an oversight on the 
part of its founders ! They have concurred in the death-dealing 
judgment, that the framers of our Constitution have not spoken 
out their purposes, and that they themselves are helpless. 

"Since the foregoing remarks were penned, the opinion of 
Justice Knox has also come to us, through the reports. It is 
very summary and somewhat epigrammatic; stating its conclu- 
sions without the risk or labor of reasoning them out, and form- 
ing what might very well serve as a compendious manual of 
legislative despotism. It would be unfair to overlook it. A few 
remarks, however, will dispose of it. 

"The tests are, he says, whether the Act is in the nature of 
a legislative power — and if so, whether the Constitution 



284 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

expressly or by necessary implication forbids it. If not legis- 
lative, it is forbidden, he thinks, by necessary implication ; and it 
is by the same rule that he deduces, from the organization of a 
Judiciary, the conclusion that it is supreme and exclusive. 

"Taking the creation of a municipal corporation to be an 
exercise of legislative power, he agrees with his brother Wood- 
ward that there can be no limits to its extension. Admitting, 
however, that laws may be thus passed, which will, in the minds 
of many, be contrary to natural justice, and subversive of the 
just rights of the people — he sees no remedy but in further 
restrictions of the power of the majority. 

"Deploring the danger of annulling an Act, without a iixed 
rule, and a written one, he tells us that we are without remedy, 
because he can find no prohibition in the letter. The clause 
which prohibits the taking of private property for public use, 
has been shown, he thinks, by it; and his brethren — not to 
embarass, he agrees with them that all this is taxation, and that 
there is no restraint but in the accountability of the representa- 
tive to his constituent. To show this, he refers to 4 Wheat. 428 ; 
and the case of Kirby vs. Shazv, in 7 Harris, 258, is then invoked 
to prove, in addition, that all the power of the people passed by 
the general grant, except what is specifically reserved, and that 
as they were not sharp enough to make a bargain for equality 
in the Declaration of Rights, they have no title to such indul- 
gence, unless the Legislature think proper to accord it to them. 

"For these reasons, he thinks that these Acts are constitu- 
tional, and that the subscriptions may be enforced by taxes 
assessed on the taxable citizens of the corporation. The expedi- 
ency of the subscriptions themselves is a question which belongs, 
as he says, to the people — to be determined either by themselves, 
or by their selected agents. 

"And now a word as to all this : 

"The first remark which it suggests, arises out of the fre- 
quent recurrence of the terms 'necessary implication' — a form 
of speech which seems to have found its way into the vocabu- 
lary of the literal interpreters, from the obvious necessity of 
devising some means of escape from the monstrous results into 
which a too rigid adherence to the letter was constantly leading 
them. Its meaning, however, has never been very well defined, 
although its uses seem to be manifold. Thus, we are told in one 
breath, that a power which is not legislative, is forbidden by 
'necessary implication,' and not because it is 'not nominated in 
the bond;' and in the next, that the Judiciary is supreme and 
exclusive, by the some rule, just because it is an organized 
Judiciary. The former of these uses finds its explanation in 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 285 

the modern notion of inherent legislative omnipotence. The 
reason of the latter is not so apparent. To say that a grant of 
one thing excludes another and a different one only by 'neces- 
sary implication,' is intelligible only on the hypothesis that a 
grant of legislative power is something different from a grant 
of anything else, and is to be governed by none of the usual 
rules. To infer, however, that a thing is supreme and exclusive 
by necessary implication, or any other rule, merely because it 
exists, is something in the way of logic which is not so easily 
explained. It is akin, however, to the idea of Judge Wood- 
ward, to which he implicitly subscribes, that if the Legislature 
can make a municipal corporation, it may extend it so far as 
to make anything else out of it which is within the compass of 
human invention. 

"There is no objection, however, to this rule of construction, 
except that it should have found favor with a Judge who pro- 
fesses to be satisfied with nothing short of a fixed rule, and a 
zvritten one, and will not consent, upon any consideration, to 
look beyond the letter. If it is good for one purpose, however, 
it ought to be good for another. If it may be legitimately and 
successfully invoked to protect the Judiciary from encroach- 
ment, one would suppose that it would cost no very great sacri- 
fice to extend to it the rights and property of the citizen. The 
Declaration of Rights proclaims that one of the great objects of 
this Government is the security of property, and that no man's 
property shall be taken from him without compensation. Is 
there not a tolerably fair implication from all this, that it shall 
not be taken under the pretense of protecting it, or under color 
of an authority which is itself only implied? 

"The indefinite power of extension, to which Judge Knox 
subscribes, in accordance with the views of his brother Wood- 
ward, has been already examined in the review of the opinion 
of the latter Judge. Nor is there any more originality in the 
idea, that the only remedy for a law which may be contrary to 
natural justice, and subversive of the just rights of the people, 
is in further restrictions of the power of the majority — which 
may turn out to be impossible, if they have an interest in refus- 
ing them. 

"The difficulty of Judge Knox is admitted to be, as with his 
brethren, the absence of the letter. He agrees with them, that 
the taking of more of one man's property than another's, for the 
use of Government, is not the case provided for by the clause 
which prohibits the taking of private property for public use, 
without compensation; and says he agrees with both that these 
are tax laws, and that there is no restraint upon the power, but 



286 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

in the accountability of the Representative to his constituent. 
He is mistaken. There is a difference between his brethren on 
this point. The Chief Justice admits that there is a limitation 
in the very nature of the power, which Justice Woodward alto- 
gether denies. It is impossible for him, therefore, to agree with 
both. He follows the latter only, and even he has surrendered 
his position in a later case, (Sclicnley vs. Allegheny City, i 
Casey, 128,) wherein he concedes that there may be cases 
wherein the abuse of such a power may be corrected ; that where 
the exercise of the taxing power becomes wanton and unjust, 
or is so grossly perverted as to lose its character as a legislative 
function, the Judiciary will feel themselves entitled to interfere 
on constitutional grounds; and that taxation is fair and 
legitimate only when it imposes the burthens exactly where the 
benefits are conferred. 

"The case referred to, from 4 Wheat, 428, is nothing to the 
purpose. The observation quoted from Ch. J. Marshall, that 
the exercise of the power of taxation is only to be limited by the 
exigencies of the Government, has nothing to do with the ques- 
tion of equality in the assessment. The Republican spirit, and 
strong practical good sense of that eminent Judge, would have 
revolted at the idea of inequality in a 'Government like ours. 
The case of Kirby vs. Shaw, from 7 Harris, 288, is admitted to 
be somewhat more to the purpose. It is, however, at war with 
the settled doctrine of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
as shown in the case already cited, as well as with the admitted 
limitations of the Chief Justice, and his brother Woodward, and 
is so repugnant withal to common reason, and every idea of 
Republican freedom, that if it had been ruled a score of times, 
it is no more to be considered a just and binding exposition of 
our Constitution, than the decision of the seven Judges of Charles 
I. in the case of the ship-money, was of the Constitution of 
England. It was the royal prerogative which conquered then. 
But it conquered no peace, and settled no principle. It is the 
prerogative of the Legislature which is the fashion now. This, 
however, is but the transfer of an undistinguishing and unresist- 
ing loyalty, from one tyrant to another — from a hereditary mon- 
arch to an elective one, whose temptations to abuse his power will 
be precisely in the inverse ratio of the briefness of his authority. 
It will not, however, outlive the day. It will perish with the 
Judges who invented it, and, if I mistake not, long before them. 

"The idea that the taxing power is subject to no restraint 
whatever, because there is no express exception or limitation 
in the Declaration of Rights— an idea which was common to 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 287 

Judge Knox and his brother Woodward, until repudiated by the 
latter in the case of Schcnley vs. The City of Allegheny, is one 
which is not undeserving of an additional remark. He is con- 
cerned that the letter is not there. And why should it be ? The 
power itself is not in the Constitution. It is an implied one, 
merely. It is limitable in its nature, and by the very necessity 
out of which it arises. It is, moreover, of substantially the same 
character as the right of eminent domain, because, like that, it 
takes private property for public use. The latter differs from it, 
only in taking more of one man's property than another's. When 
taxation becomes unequal, it passes, by an easy transition, into 
the other power. When the Legislature does so deal, however, 
as to take more of one man's property than another's, the 
Declaration of Rights steps in, and expressly forbids injustice, 
by prescribing compensation, to secure equality. What was the 
occasion, therefore, for anything more? Surely no instrument 
of Government, of human invention, could have secured equal- 
ity by stronger guards than these. If, after all, it has failed in 
this particular, then the provision in regard to compensation was 
practically useless, and the Legislature may take all Pittsburgh, 
as it has in fact done, for the uses of the State at large, under 
the color of taxation, and without any compensation whatever. 

"The expediency of these subscriptions, he says, is a ques- 
tion for the people. It is not so, however. The choice has not, 
in any case, been left with them. If they are sustainable as tax 
laws, conferring indefinite powers on public corporations — as it 
is claimed they may do — the assent of the people was of no 
importance ; and if the validity of these subscriptions depends on 
their assent, then even a majority could not so change the cor- 
porate functions as to bind their dissenting and protesting fel- 
lows. 

"It is not to be too hastily inferred, however, that the views 
thus stated have suffered no change, or are to prevail hereafter. 
The effect of a particular decision is not always obvious at first 
sight, and there is nothing in the position of a Judge to exempt 
him from error, or to remove him beyond the pale of humanity, 
by denying to him the humble privilege of confessing and repair- 
ing it. I have already had occasion to suggest, that since the 
first portion of these remarks was penned, the doctrine that the 
exercise of the taxing power was not subject to review, had been 
abandoned by Judge Woodward, in the case of Schenley vs. The 
City of Allegheny. I am now enabled to proclaim another con- 
vert to the more rational and conservative principle, in the 
person of Judge Knox himself — the last doubtful member of the 
Supreme Court. 



288 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

"In the case of the Bill, recently filed in that Court, to enjoin 
the Pennsylvania Rail Road Company from the purchase of the 
main line of the Public Works, Judge Knox, in agreeing with 
his colleagues, that no part of the taxing power could be sur- 
rendered by the Legislature, is reported to have said : 

" 'There are no words in the Constitution which expressly declare 
that the Legislature shall not relinquish the power to impose taxes 
upon persons or property, nor is such prohibition to be necessarily 
implied from any of the restrictions imposed upon legislative action; 
but unless the power to part with the right to tax, passed to the 
General Assembly by the grant of legislation, it does not exist, 
although not forbidden. It is difficult, if not entirely impossible, to 
define with precision, in what the legislative or law-making power 
consists, but it is very clear that it is not an absolute power to do 
whatever the General Assembly may determine to do. 

" 'The power to impose taxes is entirely legislative in its charac- 
ter, and the General Assembly is possessed of this power to the full- 
est extent; for it was conferred by the people, without limitation 
and without restriction, to be used, however, as the exigencies of 
the Government required, and not to be bartered away, to answer 
present purposes, at the expense of the future. The power to impose 
taxes does not include the power to grant immunity from taxation, 
any more than the power to provide punishment for the commission 
of crime, implies the power to grant exemption from all punishment. 
To deduce the right to contract the power away, from the right to 
exercise it, is to claim the right to destroy, because the right to pre- 
serve is conceded.' 

"Here then, while it is distinctly asserted that the power of 
taxation is a legislative power, passing, to the fullest extent, by 
the general grant — which, according to the Chief Justice, would 
have made slaves of all of us— it is admitted that the power to 
stipulate against its exercise in a given case, did not pass, and 
does not exist, although it is not forbidden, either expressly or 
by necessity implication. The idea, therefore, of legislative 
omnipotence, and the rule of the Sharpless case, compounded of 
the theories that it may do whatever is not so forbidden, and that 
the taxing power is so absolute and uncontrollable, that the 
manner of its exercise is not subject to revision, even in a case 
of manifest abuse, are alike distinctly and explicitly abandoned. 
While it is still insisted that this power was conferred without 
limitation or restriction — though never, in point of fact, con- 
ferred at all — it is, at last, unanimously confessed, that there is 
a qualification upon the use. The limitation here is, that 'it is to 
be used as the exigencies of the Government require, and not to 
be bartered away ;' and the reason given is, that 'this would be to 
infer a right to destroy, because the right to preserve is con- 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 289 

ceded.' It is not altogether clear, that non-exercise, although it 
may involve a breach of trust, is necessarily destruction, or that 
a mere agreement for «on-exercise is any more than an abuse, 
because it exhausts a source of legislative supply, if it does not 
enact injustice by exempting one at the expense of another. The 
idea, however, that this would be destruction, is equally predica- 
ble of the right to take the whole property of the citizen, nno 
flatti, by way of mortgage, under the pretense of taxing him, for 
the purpose of building rail roads. If it be bad logic, as it is, 
to infer a right to destroy, from the existence of a right to pre- 
serve, what becomes of the power claimed here — and that by 
implication merely — to destroy the property of the citizen — where 
the very object of Government is declared to be its protection, 
and the power is, therefore, implied only for the purpose of pre- 
serving it ! Is the existence of the taxing power more important 
than that of property itself ? Surely no further argument is nec- 
essary. Judge Knox himself has demolished the case we are 
reviewing, at a blow. 

"I take occasion, therefore, to congratulate the people and the 
profession, on this early return to sound principles, and rational 
rules of interpretation. The departure has been — thank Heaven 
— a brief one. It has inspired great alarm, and has been pro- 
ductive of much mischief. I never doubted that it would be brief, 
because I felt assured that the new doctrine would so hamper and 
embarrass the Judges, at every turn, and lead to such unexpected 
and startling results, as would inevitably drive them back to that 
'one impregnable position' referred to by Chief Justice Black, in 
his letter to the Commissioners of Somerset county. They are 
now there, as I humbly believe, and I take my leave of them 
accordingly. In so doing, may I not be allowed to say to the 
victims of this iron rule: 

" 'Redit Astrsea redux; redeant jam Saturnia regna?' " 

It will thus be seen that he devotes over three-fourths 
of this long Review to the opinion of Chief Justice Black. ^ 
This was the gage of battle — a struggle that was to 
extend through many years and take many forms. This 
Review, however, made Thomas Williams the leader of 
that part of the people who were determined to sooner 
or later curb this vast power of the Legislature and the 
courts over municipal affairs, and made him the voice of 
the County of Allegheny and its municipalities in resist- 
ance to what they believed to be the unjust course of 

' 9 Harris, 158-176. 



290 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

Philadelphia interests against them through legislative 
channels. The struggle was a complex one and the con- 
siderable period of quiet in Pittsburgh which followed 
was only the lull before the storm or the preparation for 
battle. 

One significant incident, late in the last year of this 
period, may speak for itself. On the 21st of November, 
1854, there appeared in the Pittsburgh Gazette a letter 
urging the qualifications of Mr. Williams for the coming 
vacancy in the United States Senate, and enough had 
been said regarding it to show that there were not a few 
who desired to press his claims for the place. Early in 
the following January the Post had an article on the sub- 
ject that brought out a still stronger plea for Mr. 
Williams in the Gazette on January 12th that w'as given 
first place in the editorial section. 

"The Post in the article first above alluded to, holds the fol- 
lowing language," says the Gazette writer : " 'Whether he be a 
Democrat, Whig, or whatsoever else — we hope our new 
United States Senator will at least be a man, — a man of capac- 
ity, of virtue, and last but not least of a stiff back-bone.' The 
language is expressive, and meets our views precisely, and with 
this preface we urge again the selection of Thomas Williams 
to fill the office. 

"To question his ability in this part of the State would be 
rather absurd. His efforts in favor of a protective tariff were 
worthy to be ever remembered, and I, like many others who 
look back to the times of '40 and '44, must acknowledge that in 
the political strife of those days he was undoubtedly the master 
mind, the acknowledged leader in the Western part of the State. 
Some of his articles on the Tariff question are now, and will 
long be, regarded as among the best productions to which that 
subject gave birth. His mind was not of a mediocre stamp, on 
the contrary, judging from the best of evidence, — its fruits — few 
have been gifted with such large and comprehensive views, com- 
bined with such acute and logical analysis of the subject. The 
question left his hands stript of every mystery, and its bearings 
and effects clearly and concisely held forth to the public mind. 
Of his readiness and effectiveness as a stump speaker we need 
not speak. Many will recall his rich and racy style with pleas- 
ure; and even thus his opponents will remember his political 
campaign of some ten years ago — then there was a fine field, 



ATTACKS MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTION TO RAILROADS 2gi 

fair play, no secret organizations, and the victory was to the 
brave and true. 

"He was considered the best man to represent the interests 
of Allegheny county in the State Senate, and was nominated and 
elected without any great difficulty — though some good Demo- 
crats bitterly opposed him. His career in the Senate, those who 
were then members will look back to as furnishing a good exam- 
ple of the manner in which a representative should serve his 
constituents. Punctual, ever attentive, all the minor duties 
which devolved upon him were most faithfully performed ; but it 
was in a wider and more useful field that he sought and won 
distinction. The finances of the Commonwealth were then in 
such a state that grave and serious doubts were entertained 
whether her credit could long be sustained. The time was a 
trying one — Senators of talent, foresight and great financial 
abilities were wanted, and some were found, and foremost 
among them and most conspicuous was the Senator from Alle- 
gheny county. His eloquence, his bold, uncompromising 
strength of principle, his unquestioned integrity and his unceas- 
ing labor contributed much to sustain the credit of the State. 
The people of this section were not the only witnesses to his 
efforts. The Eastern as well as the Western part of the State 
profited by his labors and admitted his great worth. 

"As a Lawyer he has won a wide-spread fame. His presence 
in Philadelphia Courts when great interests are at stake is no rare 
occurrence. His equal they may find ; his superior they have 
not. The fact is of record that his argument on one of the most 
important constitutional questions ever broached in Pennsyl- 
vania, was pronounced by the Supreme Court the most masterly 
production on that subject — a subject which brought out the full 
strength of the renowned Philadelphia Bar. We allude to the 
question of the constitutionality of the municipal subscriptions to 
railroads, and most truly have his predictions which are found 
in that argument been verified." 

Some very interesting questions arose in the sena- 
torial campaign in the Legislature, even to the sugges- 
tion in the Harrisburg Union that the Legislature could 
meet after or before adjournment and elect — a point 
against which Mr. Williams felt constrained to make 
public protest, — but it is sufficient for purposes here to 
state that political forces behind the Legislature were 
by no means ready to consider as senatorial material the 
author of the "Review of the Three Judges of the 



292 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

Supreme Court;" as a result William Bigler was sent to 
Washington and the incident proved to be only an 
episode — although a significant one — in Mr. Williams' 
career.^ 

* It was a short time after this that Hon. C. R. Buckalew, on reading 
two of Mr. Williams' papers, wrote Hon. George Darsie that he considered 
Williams "as a lawyer, logician and scholar, one of the foremost men of the 
State." Letter of May 22, 1855, among the Williams papers. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Aroused by the Repeal of the Missouri Compro- 
mise, He Becomes a Founder of the Repub- 
lican Party and a National Com- 
mitteeman in '56 

He Writes the Call for the Chicago Conven- 
tion Which Nominated Lincoln 

His War Against Municipal Subscription to 

Railways Produces an Amendment 

TO THE Constitution 

1855 

Meanwhile a far greater tempest was brewing than 
that over municipal subscription to railroads, ominous 
even as were the rumblings of that storm. Its thunder- 
ings and lightning flashes were the signs for which 
Thomas Williams had "waited with the faith and patience 
of the aged Simeon." And, said he, in the same place 
where these quoted words were used, — "It came at last 
in the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and culminated 
in the mortal struggle, which, commencing on the plains 
of Kansas, was transferred to the Federal Capitol, and 
there shook the Representative Hall of the people with 
treason, and dyed the floor of the Senate Chamber with 
blood. The hour had then struck. The field of politics 
was flooded with a new light from the blazing dwelling 
of the inhabitant of the prairies. The veil had dropped 
from the faces of the combatants. The two great antago- 
nistic interests which had been so long wrestling for 
empire under arbitrary names, had now come face to face, 
with visors up, in mortal embrace. The problem of 
American politics was now solved. The issue was at last 
293 



294 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

directly made, and it brought along with it the induce- 
ment to renewed exertion, in the assurance which it 
furnished of a great deliverance. The time had now 
come to strike once more for freedom."^ 

It seems strange to one familiar with Pennsylvania 
political conditions of to-day that the State could have 
been so uncertain a half-century ago that a Presidential 
candidate could say :- "As goes Cumberland county, so 
goes Pennsylvania ; and as Pennsylvania goes, so goes 
the Union ;" but it was said, and it was such conditions 
that made the vigorous new anti-slavery party that was 
springing up in various northern States desire to have its 
first meetings for national organization in the Keystone 
State. Thomas Williams took great interest in the proposi- 
tion and would have had an active part in promoting the 
preliminary national meeting of the Republicans, set for 
Washington's Birthday in 1856 at Pittsburgh, had he not 
been arguing his first case in the Supreme Court of the 
United States at the national capitol on that very day.* 
The convention, which met in Lafayette Hall, had many 
features of interest, but the most significant and pictur- 
esque were the speeches made while waiting for com- 
mittees. Horace Greeley was most enthusiastically 
greeted. The great editor of the New York Tribune 
was evidently a favorite with the three hundred 
or more delegates in attendance. He said he had 
been in Washington for some time; "our friends 
there counselled extreme caution in our movements. I 

^ Mr. Williams on "The Negro in American Politics," i860, p. 2. Williams 
papers. 

2 James Buchanan, quoted by ex-Governor Ritner in the first regular 
national Republican Convention. The North American and United States 
Gazette, Philadelphia, June 18, 1856. 

* The case was that of Joseph Vv'ilkins, tenant, and Francis G. Bailey, 
Joseph Peacock and Samuel Bailey, executors of Michael Allen, deceased, 
plaintiffs in error, vs. David Allen, Martha Allen, Catherine Allen and Isabella 
Allen. 18 Howard's U. S. S. C. Reports, 385. This had come up from the 
western circuit of Pennsylvania, United States Circuit Court. Mr. Williams 
represented the executors and Andrew W. Loomis and Edwin M. Stanton rep- 
resented the heirs. Williams had been admitted to the bar of the Supreme 
Court of the United States on the nth, on motion of Mr. Loomis, and spoke 
in this case on the 21st and 22d. The case illustrates a large element of Mr. 
Williams' practice, counsel for estates, the Schenley estate being one of the 
best known. His letters to his wife at this time give some very interesting 
accounts of his experience in his first case, and of dining with Justices Wayne, 
Grier and Curtis, but as he says these are for her eyes alone, they may so 
remain. He was so well known as an orator that he was sure to attract an 
tinusual audience whenever it was known he was to speak. His argument occu- 
pied two hours the first day 
February 22, 1856, to his wife. 




HORACE GREELEY 

Halftone ot a coutetnporary photograph by Brady, 

uegative in possession of L. C. Handy, 

Washington, D C. 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 295 

am myself a cautious man, [laughter] but at the same 
time I think we are bound to act in such a manner as to 
show the South that although we are the earnest oppo- 
nents of slavery, we are not governed by hostility to the 
South." It was, he said, "for the interest of Missouri 
that Kansas should be a free State, and he believed an 
honest majority of the people were in favor of freedom. 
His friends in Washington wished him to counsel 
extreme caution. The Federal forces are in the hands 
of our implacable enemies. The Secretary of War, Mr. 
Jefferson Davis, whatever good qualities he might pos- 
sess, was no friend to our cause. The commander of the 
Federal forces was no friend either. Let us, therefore, 
be cautious, and keep within bounds."^ Mr. Giddings of 
Ohio rose and replied that "Washington was the last 
place to look for advice." He then told a story of two 
farmers, Joseph and John, who piously began a settle- 
ment in the West. Joseph prayed that the Lord carry it 
on "thus," whereupon John prayed: "O Lord, we have 
begun a good work; carry it on as you think best, and 
don't mind what Joe says." Midst great laughter Mr. 
Giddings introduced Rev. Mr. Lovejoy of Illinois, "not 
Joe, but John." After a most inflammatory speech Love- 
joy closed by advising "every man to supply himself with 
Sharp's rifles, and said, let there be war to the knife."^ 
Others denounced the American or Know Nothing party, 
then in session at Philadelphia, and denounced the poli- 
ticians of Washington and Philadelphia.^ Southern mem- 
bers urged care and the restoration of the Missouri Com- 
promise, and a telegram was read from Philadelphia that 
"the American Party are now thoroughly united to raise 
the Republican banner. No further extension of slavery. 
The Americans are with you." The committee on organ- 
ization proposed a national executive committee of one 
from each State to arrange for a regular national conven- 
tion in June, at Harrisburg, which was ordered, except 
that Philadelphia was chosen instead of the capital. Mr. 
Williams was made the Pennsylvania member of the 

^ Report in the North American and United States Gazette of February 
23, 1856. 

2 Ibid. 

' Called so because they were a secret order, and so invariably answered 
inquiries by saying: "I know nothing." 



296 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

committee. A day or so later the American Conven- 
tion was split by a large bolting element which sympa- 
thized with the Republicans, and ex-Governor W. F. 
Johnston of Pennsylvania figured largely with the bolt- 
ers. The Americans nominated Fillmore and the 
bolters adjourned to meet in New York about the time 
the Republicans were to meet in Philadelphia in June. 

A State Republican Convention was called to meet in 
Philadelphia the day before the national convention. It 
met at National Hall, Market street above Twelfth, 
and while the committees were at work Dr. William 
Elder made a stirring speech, in which he said: 
"The vote of Pennsylvania for the Presidency has never 
been lost."^ Hon. John Allison of Beaver was made 
president of the convention and it was evident that wise 
counsels would prevail. An effort was made to instruct 
the delegates-at-large to the national convention for 
McLean of Ohio, or Fremont of California, or both, 
but it failed. The delegates-at-large chosen were Hon. 
David Wilmot of Bradford, Thomas Williams of Alle- 
gheny, Hon. John Dick, Hon. John Allison, James P. 
Veree and Hon. H. D. Maxwell. This was on the i6th, 
and the national convention met on the following day on 
Locust street above Eighth at Musical Fund Hall. The 
Northern American Convention was in session in New 
York and ex-Governor Johnston was very influential in 
it, apparently determined to lead it to co-operate with the 
convention in Musical Fund Hall. Early in the morning 
the Pennsylvania delegates, led by Neville B. Craig of 
Pittsburgh, had an informal meeting at which an en- 
deavor was made to "boom" McLean of Ohio, and, in- 
deed, by half-past ten o'clock Craig announced that all 
were for McLean except the Fourteenth and Twenty- 
fourth Districts. Mr. Greeley, Mr. Giddings and others 
were present at this caucus as visitors. 

The national convention was called to order at a little 
before noon of the 17th by Hon. E. D. Morgan of New 
York, and Rev. Albert Barnes of the First Presbyterian 
Church of Philadelphia opened the session with prayer. 

^ North American and United States Gazette, 17th of June, 1856. The con- 
vention met on the i6th. 




«> 2; - 






« CS O 







■r. fc o 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 297 

Many speeches were made. Colonel Henry S. Lane of 
Indiana was chosen president of the convention and made 
a rousing speech. Lovejoy made a more temperate, but 
none the less forceful one than at Pittsburgh. Probably 
the most impressive, however, at the first session was 
that of Henry D. Wilson. On the second day the States 
were called upon to name each its member of the national 
Republican executive committee for the next four years, 
and the Pennsylvania delegation presented Thomas 
Williams. The platform was then read by Mr. Wilmot, 
who was chairman of that committee, and except for an 
attempted change in a couple of words, made by Thad- 
deus Stevens, who was ever watchful for anti-Masonic 
interests, was unanimously adopted. An effort was also 
made to start general speechmaking, but Charles Francis 
Adams of Massachusetts urged the business in hand at 
once, and Patterson of New York nominated Seward. 
An informal ballot was then ordered and letters of with- 
drawal read from Judge McLean and Gov. Salmon P. 
Chase. At this Stevens warned them that he saw how 
things were going — and secured an adjournment — and, 
apparently, a withdrawal of the McLean letter. At five 
o'clock an effort to negotiate with the Northern Ameri- 
cans at New York was voted down, and on an informal 
ballot Fremont received 359 and McLean 196, of which 
latter 71 came from Pennsylvania — 10 only going for 
Fremont. On a formal ballot 529 went for Fremont, 
and of the 37 which went for McLean 23 were from Penn- 
sylvania, which cast 58 for Fremont and i for Seward. 
This was made possible by a Pennsylvania caucus before 
the session and the work of a committee of conference — 
composed of Stevens, Purviance, Wilmot, Williams and 
Gibbons — who secured the agreement that although 
Pennsylvania should stand for McLean, she would sup- 
port Fremont if he were the nominee. It is interesting 
to see the same old line of cleavage, represented by 
Stevens on one side and Williams and Wilmot on the 
other. It was no easy problem that Pennsylvania pre- 
sented the national executive committee. General Webb 
told them that as went Pennsylvania, so would go the 
country. 



298 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

When the convention met the next morning they 
were greeted by a great banner over the stand — "For 
President, John C. Fremont," and forthwith Mr. Wil- 
marth of New Jersey offered their favorite son for Vice- 
President, namely, William L. Dayton. Wilmot, "whose 
name is a power in Pennsylvania," was nominated, and 
Allison of Beaver nominated "a prince of good fellows 
and an Old Line Whig Abraham Lincoln of Illinois." 
Archer of Illinois vouched for Lincoln, too, as "a high- 
minded Old Line Whig," whereupon Judge Spaulding of 
Ohio asked — "Can he fight?" Archer jumped up and 
down in enthusiasm, shouting — "Yes, he can fight ; he's 
from old Kentucky" — amidst the greatest laughter and 
applause. Judge Palmer also spoke for Lincoln, but 
Dayton's name was again brought out, whereat a Massa- 
chusetts man read a telegram: "Great rejoicings — Give 
us a good committee — A good Vice-President — Clear the 
track." Thereupon an informal vote was ordered, and 
among fifteen names Dayton received 259, Lincoln no, 
with smaller numbers to various others, Wilmot getting 
43.^ The formal ballot gave 529 to Dayton, 20 to 
Lincoln and a few scattering votes to others. Of these 
Dayton votes Pennsylvania gave J'j for Dayton and 2 
for Lincoln, and refused to follow the movement to make 
it unanimous. Then succeeded a period of speechmak- 
ing, in which Wilmot and Williams spoke for Pennsyl- 
vania. The former showed in his speech the strain and 
apprehension caused by the disagreements in his State. 
"Why, in the name of God and of Justice," he exclaimed, 
"can we not carry Pennsylvania?" Williams said that 
"the candidate was nothing — the principles were every- 
thing. He knew the people of his section, and knew that 
the platform alone of his party, could triumph there, 
without thinking of the candidate. He appealed to Phila- 
delphia to rally for the ticket. The Minute Men of Bos- 
ton appealed to them, and shall they not have a response, 
as in the days of the revolution? He expressed himself 
certain of the cause in Pennsylvania. He spoke very 
eloquently, and was enthusiastically applauded."^ Before 

' Ex-Governor W. F. Johnston got 2 votes. 

2 The ¥lorth American and United States Gazette, June 20, 1856. The report 
in the New York Tribune is quite different and not so good. 




DAVID WII^MOT 
Halftone of a print in the Congressional Library, aftei 
by M. H. Traubel 



a lithograph 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 299 

the convention closed Mr. Wilmot reported that no con- 
clusion had been reached by the conference with the con- 
vention in New York. 

On the 20th the Americans, or Know Nothings, in 
session at New York, by a council, changed their nomi- 
nee for President to agree with the Republicans, and 
made it Fremont and Johnston (W. F.), instead of 
Banks and Johnston. In a few days thereafter Mr. 
Williams, finding the resentment of the Know Nothings 
of western Pennsylvania against the Republican refusal 
to meet them half way so very great, wrote Mr. Greeley 
a letter of inquiry as to possibilities of compromise on the 
Vice-Presidency, and also enclosed a letter to Chairman 
Morgan of his own committee. Mr. Greeley's letter is as 
follows : 

"New York" 

"July 7- '56 

"My Dear Sir: 

"I have been away at Washington, which must account for 
my neglect to respond sooner. I have transmitted your enclosed 
letter to Mr. Morgan. 

"I think I understand the case of ex-Gov. Johnston, and I 
feel sure there will be no surrender of Mr. Dayton. I know 
there will be none with his consent. Please look at this morn- 
ing's Tribune on that point.' It speaks by authority. We must 
be patient and hopeful. The current is with us, and we need 
only push forward our own organization, repelling neither 
Natives nor Adopted Citizens, but inviting all to stand with us 
on the Free State, Free Territory platform. Every hour will ren- 
der it more obvious that the choice is clearly between Fremont 
and Dayton on one side and 'Buck & Breck' on the other. And 
this will gradually melt away the Fillmore organization like a 
snow-bank in May. 

"Yours 

"Horace Greeley"^ 
"Thomas Williams, Esq." 

"Pittsburgh," 
"Pa." 

The proposition in Pennsylvania became more serious 
as the summer passed. With Senator Buchanan, one of 

' The Tribune paragraph told those who proposed going to see Mr. Day- 
ton to save their carfare. 

2 Hitherto unpublished letter, among the Williams papers. 



300 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

her own distinguished sons, heading the Democratic 
ticket, and the Fillmore Know Nothings dividing the 
opposition forces, even the Union Fremont forces 
could not make headway. Had all the opposition been 
united the Pennsylvanian would have had no easy vic- 
tory. The October State election showed the State lost, 
and the November national one sealed the verdict, 
although Mr. Williams' own county went nearly 3 to 5 
for Fremont. It proved true again that as Cumberland 
County went so went Pennsylvania, and as Pennsylvania 
went so went the Union, although Cumberland also 
showed that it was victory by no great margin. But, 
while Fremont lost, the new Republican party made a 
splendid showing — such that the national executive 
committee had no trouble in convincing its supporters 
that a great step had been taken toward victory another 
time. Republican organization was renewed all over the 
land and measures taken to plant for a reaping in i860. 
Events, too, were making new recruits to the vigorous 
young champion of free territory. "We failed, it is true, in 
the first of our struggles," said Mr. Williams in reference 
to this campaign, "because we were a raw militia, without 
organization, without discipline, without the knowledge 
of our strength, and under the influence of an unmanly 
terror, inspired amongst the timid by the bloody menaces 
of our foes. It was such a failure, however, as taught 
them to respect our strength and courage, and taught us 
confidence in our ability to achieve our deliverance when- 
ever we chose to will it."^ 

He had scarcely passed through this campaign and 
reached a period of less engrossing excitements, when 
the municipal subscription question took on new and star- 
tling manifestations. His work in 1853, and the develop- 
ments in '54 and '55, crystallized a sentiment that 
demanded that there should be no more municipal sub- 
scription to railroads ; that if the Constitution, with all 
its provisions for the protection of private and public 
rights, could be so interpreted by the Legislature as to 
permit it, and by the Supreme Court as to enforce it when 
permitted, there should be a definite amendment to that 

^ Address on "The Negro in America Politics," in i860, p. 2. Williams 
papers. 




JOHN C. FREMONT 

Halftone of an early photograph by Brady, negative in possession of 

L. C. Haudy, Washington, D. C. 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 3OI 

instrument that should make it forever impossible again. 
So at the January session of 1859 a joint resolution pre- 
senting four amendments was adopted, and the chief of 
those was a new article, to be known as Article XI, on 
Public Debt, the seventh and last section of which said — 
in unmistakable brevity : ''The legislature shall not 
authorize any county, city, borough, township, or incor- 
porated district, by virtue of a vote of its citizens, or 
otherwise, to become a stockholder in any company, asso- 
ciation, or corporation ; or to obtain money for, or loan its 
credit to, any corporation, association, institution, or 
party." It was agreed to at the January session of 1857 
also and a law passed in May providing for submission to 
the people in October, with no manner of doubt 
that it would be accepted by them. If there was 
any doubt anywhere the events that followed in 
June at Pittsburgh tended to remove them for 
this amendment movement was only a part of 
the war on municipal subscription — namely, war on 
future subscription. A large number of people in Alle- 
gheny County, at least, headed by Mr. Williams, pro- 
posed equally definite war on past subscriptions, on the 
ground that they were illegal and fraudulently secured. 

Before entering upon this conflict, in order to preserve 
the historical temper, may it not be well to note, since 
these events are very near to the present and deeply 
enlisted, on both sides, the feelings of many still living, 
that it is no new thing in the world for people of the 
highest character and intelligence to be brought into 
irrepressible conflict over questions in which each side 
believes itself in the right, from its own point of view? 
Nor is it a less ancient experience of mankind that such 
people have often differed, even to the extent of decisive 
conflict, as to what, in any given matter, was either right 
or wise, or both. To some, indeed, even a decisive con- 
flict does not decide the questions of right or wisdom, or 
both, if they be synonymous ; but only determines which 
shall prevail ; while to others— after the conflict — "what- 
ever is, is right" — the one which succeeds being "revo- 
lution," which, had it failed, would be "rebellion." It 
may be noted, too, that there are two classes of minds, 



302 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

one of which, often truly constructive in character, con- 
ceives that in great crises the ordinary machinery of 
prescribed procedure breaks down, and that the end 
justifies straining many a point on the way; while the 
other class, often truly constructive in character also, 
but from another viewport, resists that method as an 
infringement upon both right and wisdom. It would 
simplify this particular question very much to merely 
admit that the dominant elements in Pennsylvania felt 
that the construction of an adequate system of transpor- 
tation, internally and with the West, was the inevitable 
destiny of the State and the cost must be paid — a mere 
description of a Bismarckian situation ; and some fought 
what they believed to be wrong in the situation. History 
is the story of the movement of spiritual, moral, intellec- 
tual and mechanical forces, co-operating or conflicting, — 
it is the story ; and many a reader of it prefers that the 
matter of judgment upon it be left as his own function.^ 

On June 3d (1857) the three commissioners of Alle- 
gheny County announced to the public that interest on 
certain railway bonds of the county required a levy of 
taxes for their payment, because the railroad had failed 
to meet its obligations, and proceeded to give a long, 
detailed account of the whole progress of municipal sub- 
scription to justify their proposed action.^ They said 
it began with the supplementary act of March 27, 1848, 
to the incorporation of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
pany, which permitted county bonds to be taken in sub- 
scription to its stock ;^ that on May 31st following a 
delegate convention of the county voted 50 to 39 in 
favor of subscription ; that on June 4th the commis- 
sioners subscribed for $1,000,000 in stock, according to 
the act of March 27th, and that the subscription was 

1 It is a curious coincidence, and an illuminating one, that within a year 
after the above paragraph was written, and while it was still in press (May, 
1905), a Pittsburghan ex-Govemor of Pennsylvania should publicly suggest, if 
not urge, a division of the State at the Susquehanna. This event occurred too 
late to insert the note in its proper place on p. 224. 

' The Pittsburgh Daily Commercial Journal of June 3, 1857. It was probably 
published in all the papers. 

» This act followed earlier successes of the organizers of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad, in 1846, in getting Philadelphia to subscribe great amounts, and it 
may be noted that Horace Binney gave an opinion vigorously against such a 
course by a municipal corporation. Indeed, he secured the odium of the 
organizers in the east as Williams did in the west. "Life of Horace Binney, ' 
by Charles Chauncey Binney, 1903, p. 247. 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 303 

accepted on the 27th of June, Furthermore, that by act 
of April 15, 1852, the county was authorized to subscribe, 
with certain limitations, to the Allegheny Valley Rail- 
road Company ; that in October the Grand Jury recom- 
mended a subscription for 20,000 shares, and that in 
November, or thereabouts, a petition with 3,988 signa- 
tures, whose names they give in many columns that 
require all the styles of type in the Journal office, appar- 
ently, was presented that certainly has some well-known 
personages on the list, adding its request to that of the 
Grand Jury; that only some 309 persons signed a pro- 
test ; that on December 31st 15,000 shares were subscribed 
for, and bonds given in payment, on which the company 
was to pay the interest, and that on the following 24th 
of January (1853) 68 citizens filed a protest. Still 
further, that in accordance with acts of April 18, 
1843, ^^^ April 18, 1853, empowering the county, and in 
accordance with general "strong expressions" of the 
previously mentioned convention regarding the value of 
railways, the commissioners subscribed to stock in the 
Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad to the amount of 
15,000 shares, which was accepted with the limitations 
on June 8, 1853. Again, that by an act of February 24th, 
immediately preceding this last, the county was author- 
ized to subscribe to stock of the Pittsburgh and Steuben- 
ville Railroad, with certain limitations, and that in June 
the Grand Jury added its recommendations, and another 
big citizens' petition favorable to it was filed ; that on 
July 15, 1853, and June 18, 1854, a total of 10,000 shares 
were subscribed to with the prescribed limitations, and 
that the company had failed to pay any interest since 
January 15, 1856, compelling the county to support their 
bonds itself. Again, that by act of April 7, 1853, a sub- 
scription to the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad was 
authorized, with limitations ; that the Grand Jury recom- 
mended, on June 2d, that $150,000 worth be taken when- 
ever citizens shall have subscribed $50,000 worth ; that 
on July 13th 3,000 shares were taken, and that this com- 
pany had kept its obligations ever since. Still more, that 
by act of February 7, 1853, a subscription to the Chartiers 
Valley Railroad was authorized, with usual limitations, 



304 



THOMAS WILLIAMS 



and that the Grand Jury and 716 citizens requested that 
3,000 shares be taken, which was accordingly done on 
August 8th following, and the company accepted it on 
March 14, 1854 ; also that this road now notified the 
county that they could not in future meet their obliga- 
tions. The commissioners thought the four-mill increase 
in taxes not excessive and were advised by Messrs. 
Loomis and Stanton, counsel, that they were legally lia- 
ble for the interest on the bonds given to the defaulting 
companies. They also said such railroads as had been 
finished were sure to be a benefit, and that the county 
could not "repudiate" their legal debts. 

Five days later a letter from "A Tax-Payer" appeared 
as an editorial in the Evening Chronicle (June 8th). In- 
ternal evidence shows it tobe Mr. Williams' work. Among 
other things he says: 'T think I abhor repudiation, as it 
is generally understood, as much as any man, and it was 
precisely because I did abhor the very appearance of it, 
that I resisted at the outset, and have continued to resist 
throughout a headlong career of folly, profligacy and 
ruin, which was morally certain to end precisely in this 
way, and so necessitated by the very extravagance and 
insanity of the thing itself." Speaking of those "moral- 
ists," as he calls them, who "preach" against "repudia- 
tion" he says: 

"He preaches, it is true, but only for the benefit of the bond- 
holders. He sees no dishonesty in making these debts. He 
quotes the late Chief Justice for another purpose, but he does not 
tell us that even he was obliged to admit, in the same opinion, 
that the whole legislation which authorized them, was 'impolitic, 
dangerous and immoral.' He overlooks the fact that every sin- 
gle consequence of repudiation which he apprehends and depre- 
cates, has already followed fast upon the heels of this iniquitous 
legislation. Dishonesty, disregard of moral and social obliga- 
tion — destruction of public credit, and distrust between man 
and man. have come down upon us already like an avenging 
Nemesis— and the gulf of ruin is just yawning upon us in ad- 
vance * * *. 

"But what is repudiation? Let us not be misled by mere 
names. I understand it to be the refusal by any man or com- 
munity to pay a debt which he or it has honestly assumed, and in 
that view, it cannot, of course, be too strongly condemned. If 




MR. WILLIAMS 

Halftone of a painting by Larabdiu, about 1854, iu possession of the 

Misses Williams Philadelphia 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 305 

a third person should, however, venture to take up goods, on 
some trading enterprise, upon the credit of our facile indorsers,' 
without their consent, and execute a mortgage upon their prop- 
erty for the payment, what would they do? Would they pay, 
or would they think it any great harm to refuse ? They would 
refuse, of course, and resent the imputation which the term 
repudiation is understood to convey, as altogether unjust and 
improper." 

The letter is a long and strong one ; he says the Legis- 
lature was this "third party," that he warned the bond- 
buyers that he would fight it before they took the bonds, 
and "the reaction is even now at hand." 

And it was. "Mr. Williams," said a paper in Pitts- 
burgh, editorially, many years later, "than whom a better 
or purer man never lived, was at the head of that move- 
ment, and there was no abler lawyer at the bar in his day. 
Nothing was further from his mind than the repudiation 
of an honest debt. But he was deeply imbued with the 
fundamental principles of civil government and the old 
common law of municipal corporations, and never could 
admit the absurdity of a municipal corporation lending 
its credit and issuing its bonds to Railroad Companies or 
to Commissioners, or other outside parties. "^ 

Two days later, upon the loth of June, "A Tax-Pay- 
ers' Convention" of the county met, and was so fully 
attended that it was adjourned to Lafayette Hall. The 
main features of this meeting of delegates from all elec- 
tion districts were a proposition to investigate condi- 
tions and report, consideration of a resolution asking that 
the Pennsylvania Railroad be enjoined from buying the 
main line of Public Works, and the set speech of Mr. 
Williams, which latter was indeed the main feature.^ 



1 Certain citizens who had recently indorsed the commissioners' manifesto. 

^ Clipping among the Williams papers. The editorial appeared some time 
in 1876, but unfortunately the paper's name was not noted on it. 

^The Dispatch of June nth, in an editorial against the convention, said: 
"Mr W however, is one of the score who have consistently, publicly, and 
on all occasions opposed municipal subscription to railroads and has a 
right to complain of taxes, to pay debts which he had no hand directly or 
by his silence, in incurring. But. because his and our taxes are doubled, the 
country has no^ gone entirely to the Styx,, as he would have "s .believe-and 
should that gentleman be seen, this mornmg parading before his block of 
ware-houses, on Market street, with a loaded musket to keep oft the tax- 
collector, a revolution will not be the necessary, consequence -a witty re- 
joinder, by the way, that was not quite so prophetic as it was witty, at least 
so far as Pittsburgh was concerned, for there did happen something of a 
revolution. 



306 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

The convention adjourned and met again on the 24th, 
and Mr. WilHams was made chairman of an investiga- 
ting, or ways and means, committee, which soon decided 
that a campaign should be fought out to secure the elec- 
tion of county commissioners who would fight the whole 
matter to a finish. One feature of the plan was the estab- 
lishment of a new journal, as an organ, since the press of 
the city were not with them, as a letter from Judge James 
Thompson in reply to inquiries about the character of 
the editor of the Erie City Dispatch, as a possible head of 
the new journal, shows.^ Just when the new organ was 
established is not known, but it was launched, and Mr. 
Williams himself became the most forceful power in 
The Weekly True Press, as it was named. 

Late in September the committee's "Address" to the 
taxpayers of the county was published. The following 
copy, covering the first page and a half of the next in 
the Evening Chronicle of September 25th (1857), will 
show the vigor and determination of the fight pro- 
posed: 

An Address of the Committee Appointed by the Tax-Pay- 
ers' Convention, Which Assembled in Pittsburgh, 
the loth and 24th of june, 1857. 
To the Tax-Payers of Allegheny County: 

The undersigned were appointed by a Convention of the Tax- 
payers of Allegheny County, to inquire into the condition of 
your financial affairs, to devise measures for your relief, and 
to address you, if necessary. They have not been idle or indif- 
ferent. They have felt constrained, however, to await the prog- 
ress of events, and they think that the crisis has now arrived 
when it is their duty to keep silence no longer. 

You know, generally, that you are now called upon to pay an 
extraordinary tax of four or five mills for Railroad purposes. 
The Commissioners have not condescended to tell you how, or 
why, or by what authority this tax was imposed. You sent your 
delegates to inquire and they were insulted, yourselves denounced 
as a mob, and the doors forcibly closed against you. It was 
assumed to be your business to pay without inquiry. The Press 
generally thought so, and condemned your objects. The men 
who agreed with them in your Convention either objected to 
inquiry, or insisted that you must pay without regard to results. 

' The letter, among the Williams papers, is dated "Erie, Aug. 5, 1857." 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 307 

Your Convention did, however, proceed to collect such informa- 
tion as was important to you, and embodied it in the form of a 
Report. It contained much that was new and startling, and of 
the deepest interest to you. You were not, however, allowed the 
privilege of seeing it. The Press of both parties, favoring the 
imposition, concurred in withholding it from you. It becomes 
necessary, therefore, to recapitulate the general facts, that you 
may see the full extent of the evil, be made acquainted with 
your rights, and be prepared to apply the remedy. 

The tax now levied is intended for the benefit of the Alle- 
gheny Valley, Steubenville and Chartiers Valley Railroads. The 
aggregate subscription to these Roads is two and a half millions 
of dollars. It is all dead loss. It was obviously so from the 
beginning. No other result was at all probable. The interest 
on this debt is $150,000 per annum. The County pays on $1,400,- 
000; the city of Pittsburgh on the whole. 

The mischief does not, however, end here. There is another 
million and a quarter to the Connellsville Road; $150,000 to the 
Pittsburgh and Cleveland; $600,000 to the Ohio and Pennsylva- 
nia ; and a niillion to the Pennsylvania Central. The first named 
of these, at least, will be knocking at your doors within the fol- 
lowing year. It has already been authorized by your Commis- 
sioners, without your knowledge, to sell a portion of your 
bonds at 68 cents on the dollar, to pay the interest on those 
previously disposed of ! The two next are paying no dividends, 
and the stock is comparatively worthless, and may be considered 
as lost. The Pennsylvania Central, and that only, does pay divi- 
dends, and professes to make them. Whether it does, in point 
of fact, no man can tell. Your County Directors are not under- 
stood to be more than nominal. If they know anything about 
it we are none the wiser for that knowledge. It has become, 
however, under the encouraging auspices of the County Com- 
missioners a great Canal proprietor, and a large subscriber to 
unfinished and worthless Railroads. Its operations are multi- 
farious and its debt enormous. It may suspend the payment of 
dividends at any time. The presumption is, from its present 
management, as well as from the history of kindred enterprises 
of equal magnitude, that long before the maturity of our bonds, 
it will become a part of the general wreck with which our 
shores are now strewn. 

When you come, then, to sum up the general bankruptcy 
account, you have a total of five and a half millions of Railroad 
debt, and that too without assets to show for it, beyond the 
already depreciated stock of the last-named Road, subjecting 
your houses and farms to a perpetual incumbrance, and draining 



308 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

you annually of the enormous sum of $330,000. Nor will this 
be only the insensible dripping of a healthful vein in the way of 
Taxation, for the legitimate purposes of government. These 
purposes must be provided for also. It will be the rush of an 
artery for purposes of confiscation, and aiming at your lives. 
You can bear the weight of honest and equal government Tax- 
ation. You cannot glut the appetite of the vainpyre. If the 
bondholders are allowed to drink — you die. 

The assessed value of the freehold of this county is about 
$23,000,000. The county's share of this Railroad debt is $3,300,- 
000. This is about i^yi per cent, of the amount appraised. It 
takes, in effect, $14,50 out of every $100 of your property, by 
creating a perpetual mortgage to that extent. The interest on 
this sum is $198,000 a year. To meet this will require a per- 
petual addition of not less than nine mills, which will quadruple 
the usual and legitimate County Tax. Our population in 1850 
was about 138,000. Our Railroad debt is, therefore, about $24 
a head. 

Startling as all this is, it is but a trifle, compared with the 
unfortunate condition of the city of Pittsburgh. The freehold 
of this city is valued at about nine millions. It has its own 
Railroad debt of $1,800,000. This is just 20 per cent, on its 
whole valuation. It is a mortgage, therefore, of $20 every 
$100. Its interest is $108,000 a year. To pay it, will require 
a tax of about thirteen mills, including charges and exonerations. 
It is to be remembered, however, that the city is, unfortunately, 
a part of the county. This fact seems not to have occurred to 
the Councils, when they were yielding to the popular argument, 
that if they would give so much, the county would contribute as 
much more. Add then its share of the county debt, which would 
be about $1,290,000, and we have a Railroad debt for the city of 
$3,090,000, constituting a mortgage of 34^ per cent., and requir- 
ing an additional tax of about 22 mills. The population of 
Pittsburgh, in 1850, was about 60,000. It has not increased to 
any great extent since that time. Its Railroad debt would be, 
therefore, over $50 a head. 

These are indeed startling results. They shock even our 
newspaper editors when they see them stated in foreign papers, 
and our own image thus reflected back upon ourselves. Your 
Committee would rather not speak of them either, if they could 
be safely concealed. We cannot, however, escape or evade 
them by turning our backs and burying our heads in the sand, 
like the ostrich. Our silence or ignorance has been only abused 
for the purpose of furthering new impositions. If a new tax 
is proposed for any new object it is sure to find an advocate in 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 309 

the Press. You are coolly told that you can bear it all, and as 
coolly assured that you are taxed no higher than other people. 
The time for concealment is now past. The evil is upon us. 
The Tax-Gatherer — that bird of ill omen — is now blackening the 
air with his heavy flight. The plague is in our kneading troughs. 
It dwarfs our growth. It menaces the public peace. It shakes 
the security of our homes. Those who have slept heavily with 
their heads in the lap of the Press, and their senses drowned by 
its deceptive lullaby, must now wake up with a shock to the 
consciousness of what has been so long witnessed and wondered 
at, by everybody but themselves. You are not yet, however, 
altogether shorn of your strength. If you will but awake now, and 
be true to yourselves, you will heave off this unsightly and ille- 
gitimate burthen as the Israelitish champion snapped asunder 
the flaxen cords which had been bound about his giant limbs. 
But how have all these things been done? Not, thank God, 
by any act of yours, or of men having your authority. The 
parties who sought to embark your property in the wild hazards 
of railroad speculations for the own purposes, were too 
shrewd to submit the question to you. Their process was as 
novel ao it was ingenious. They repaired to the Legislature 
without your knowledge and asked of them the privilege of 
compelling you to subscribe, by authorizing a third party, on 
whom they could rely, and whom you could not control, to 
mortgage your property and tax you for the payment. The 
parties selected as the agents of the Legislature and the com- 
panies were Grand Jurors, County Commissioners and members 
of Councils. With the inducements which could be offered, 
where limitless issues of bonds, passing into the hands of irre- 
sponsible men, were to be the prize, no machinery would be 
unemployed, and they would subscribe, of course, without refer- 
ence to the value of the improvement, and without caring 
whether the money was squandered or not. It was no less 
than an authority to ruin you with the means thus extorted by 
the Legislature from your own pockets. The consequences 
were precisely what might have been expected. No sooner 
was a power conferred than the dispensers of this legislative 
bounty became a general focus of attraction. Even the press 
seemed to acquire a new life. The Grand Jury room was 
invaded. The lobbies of the Council Chambers were clouded 
and blackened with the locust swarm. The once humble Com- 
missioners towered into mighty potentates, whose levees were 
thronged by a crowd of mendicants that would have shamed the 
ante-chambers of an Eastern King. If a Grand Jury was obsti- 
nate, they could be tried again. There was flattery for the vain, 



3IO THOMAS WILLIAMS 

and tit-bits for the gourmand. If they were proof against such 
persuasives, there was the Legislative contrivance of getting a 
few obstinate men out of the way. If the Commissioners held 
back, there was a way too of getting at their hearts. There 
were men whose influence would conquer even a Commissioner, 
and there were means of securing them. With the Councils, 
there was no difficulty. They never refused a subscription to 
anything. No matter whether a company came before them 
without a charter, and with the confession that they had obtained 
a former subscription by false pretences; it made no difference. 
No matter though every condition of a subscription was violated. 
What was that to you ? They got what they wanted, and used it 
as they chose. It cost Commissioners and Councilmen nothing 
to be generous with your estates. They did not care whether 
you were consenting or not. They gave audience to railroad 
presidents, but never to you. Voting away your money was 
their business exclusively. Yours was the humble privilege of 
footing the bill, and paying the piper while they danced. 

By means like these then was it that all this enormous debt 
was piled up in the marvellously short space of some two or 
three years. It was a grand carnival while it lasted. Railroad 
bonds — supposed mortgages on your property — issued and paid 
out to irresponsible men, without any security whatever, were 
hawked about by hats' full, and became almost as cheap and 
abundant as the dust upon our streets. A loan at forty per cent. 
per annum, on a hypothecation of such securities at fifty cents 
on the dollar, was no unusual thing. No inquiry was, however, 
made by your Commissioners or Councils, how they were dis- 
posed of, and no heed given to the question whether the condi- 
tions on which they were issued had ever been observed. And 
yet there was not one case, perhaps, where those conditions 
were not violated under their own eyes. In the case of the 
Allegheny Valley Road, it was provided by law that the County 
Bonds should not be sold below par. The condition was openly 
disregarded as to this county, and all the other counties saved. 
In the case of the city there does not seem to have been any 
authority to subscribe at all. In the case of the Steubenville 
Road, the condition of the first city subscription was that the 
like sum should be honestly subscribed by individuals. They 
produced a regularly authenticated list of private subscribers, 
and got your Bonds on the assurance that they would build the 
Road. They were back again in a little time for as much more, 
and they got it, too, upon an exhibit which showed that their 
first private subscription was a sham, and then obtained another 
$250,000 from the county upon the same proofs, and, as we 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 3 II 

think, without any authority at all ! In the case of the Con- 
nellsville Road, there were three conditions annexed; one that 
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company should agree to put 
them on the same footing as their own Western Division; 
another that they should be able to show means to connect their 
road with Cumberland; and a third, that the moneys subscribed 
should be expended in constructing their road from Pittsburgh 
eastward. Not one of these conditions was observed. The 
Baltimore and Ohio Company refused to make any such arrange- 
ment. The Company had no means whatever to connect its 
road with Cumberland. It got the subscription notwithstanding, 
declined making its Road into Pittsburgh altogether, carried 
the money into other counties, and sunk some $200 or $300,- 
000 in the defalcation of an officer ! Is it surprising, then, that 
in view of all these monstrous abuses the whole municipal 
Railroad system has gone to ruin in so short a period, and "left 
not a rack behind?" The. undertaking to build with our own 
unaided resources, and upon corporation credit exclusively, a 
system of Railroads which would have swamped the whole 
freehold of the County, was a guaranty that they would perish 
in the woods, and that the City and County would perish with 
them. Any other result was impossible from the beginning. 
Railroads do not pay, even when built with money. With Cor- 
poration Bonds at fifty or sixty cents on the dollar, declining 
in value at every successive issue, like the Continental paper, 
and carrying down with them the value of your freeholds, they 
were sure not to pay, and equally sure not to be finished. Is it 
not surprising, however, that anybody here should have the 
assurance to expect you to pay, and that, too, at the par value 
of the securities, a debt thus incurred — or that any one pro- 
fessing a regard for your welfare should be found to defend 
an impost levied for such a purpose? Has all respect 
for property or private rights died out? Is it supposed that 
the Courts will lend their aid to disfranchise you, and trample 
out the very idea of freedom? Does patriotism or public duty 
require you to throw away all the securities which the govern- 
ment owes you, and allow yourselves to be thus robbed with 
impunity ? 

The occasion of the present Tax is the failure of the Alle- 
gheny Valley, Steubenville, and Chartiers Valley Railroad 
Companies to pay the interest on their Bonds. This Tax is 
assessed, as the subscriptions were made, without consulting 
you, and with the apparent purpose of covering up the whole 
past, and shutting you out from any defence upon the Bonds. 
And this is perhaps a fitting consummation for such a tragedy. 



312 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

The newspapers say you are bound to pay it. They deprecate 
inquiry, too, as well as the Commissioners. Some of them 
denounced your Convention, although it went no farther, and 
one has even gone so far as to declare openly that investigation 
is but a quibble. All of them favor the payment, and nearly all 
of them without reference to the question whether the Bonds 
were honestly issued and passed away or not. If you wish that 
question made you must all sue. You are not to be allowed to 
defend through your Commissioners. They are engaged for the 
other party, and their business is to make you pay if they can. 
All agree in assuring you that the question of your liability to 
pay this Tax has been settled. 

If this be true then are we in a deplorable condition indeed. 
If we are in these bonds, and thus chained by an inexorable 
fate we are indeed a spectacle for Gods and men. The historian 
can then write the epitaph of Pittsburgh, and the enemies of 
freedom point the "low unmoving finger" of derision at the 
example which we shall furnish of a community blest by Prov- 
idence beyond all others with elements of wealth, guilty of no 
default and yet given over — men, women and helpless children — 
to worse than fire and word, and swept by its own rulers with 
the besom of destruction. If we are liable for this debt, not 
made by ourselves, but imposed upon us by a tyrannical legis- 
lature, and its agents here, there is an end of our growth. The 
vital principle is extinguished. Decay — dilapidation — ruin are 
at our gates. Where the freehold is deeply mortgaged, men will 
neither invest nor improve. Where property is insecure, capital 
and enterprise will flee as from a plague. It is the experience of 
all lands. It is already foreshadowed here. If the Press will 
not see it, every freeholder does. If the Commissioners and 
Councils had set fire to the town they could not have inflicted 
a deeper injury. It would have survived the ruin and sprung 
up anew, as it did in 1845, without incumbrance. Individuals 
might have suffered, but that suffering would have been followed 
only by a transfer of property. These men, however, have laid 
on it a weight which it must carry through all time. Its unim- 
proved property is made worthless. It may be sold for its 
taxes, but the incumbrance will still follow it. Our condition 
is that of Prometheus chained to his rock with the undying 
vulture preying upon his vitals. The wound is without cure, 
as it is without apology. It will reopen from year to year, and 
continue to bleed forever. 

It is not true, however, that the question of our liability for 
all this debt is settled. A bare majority of the Supreme Court 
has indeed decided, without agreement between themselves, and 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 313 

on principles which cannot be safely maintained or successfully 
defended — that the Legislature may authorize such subscrip- 
tions and the issuing of bonds in payment thereof. The policy 
was then a new one. The evil was not foreseen, and the pressure 
was strong. Two of the Judges held that they were tax laws 
simply, and that the taxing power was so illimitable that even 
the grossest inequalify was not subject to review. They have 
since greatly modified their opinions on that point. The late 
Chief Justice Black, who gave the casting vote, thought differ- 
ently as to the taxing power, but held these laws to import a 
mere permission to the corporation to make a contract and to tax 
themselves. He thought the purposes were properly municipal, 
and they thought otherwise. With his views of the taxing 
power, his concurring brethren would have ruled the question 
the other way. With their views of a municipal purpose, he 
would have paid them the same compliment. They all agreed, 
however, substantially in the opinion that this was not a taking 
of property, that the Constitution was not to be interpreted by 
its spirit, and that we had no rights except such as were specially 
and literally reserved in the Declaration. And this is precisely 
the state in which the question now is. It so happens, however, 
that some States of the Union had no declarations of rights at 
all, and that this very doctrine had been solemnly repudiated — 
and that too before it was uttered here — by the highest authority 
in this nation, as anti-American, and altogether inadmissible. 
Whether it shall stand as law in Pennsylvania is yet to be 
decided. Xo divided opinions at least can settle it against the 
citizen. It would not be decisive in an ordinary case. Every 
day's experience proves that even an unanimous opinion is not 
so. It will require more than three judges to make a constitu- 
tion for us, or to deprive us of existing rights by giving to the 
one we have a construction which shall overthrow the securities 
of property. They may be respectable. We do not say they are 
not. It is no disparagement to them to say that they are not 
any better lawyers than many of their professional brethren 
who are united in the condemnation of that doctrine. If the 
doctrine is not sound, however, it cannot stand. It must eventu- 
ally yield to the force of an enlightened public and professional 
opinion. The question is a political as well as a legal one, and 
belongs, to some extent to the forum of the people, as touching 
the welfare and the very existence of great communities. No 
time can consecrate a wrong. Xo number of opinions — no pro- 
fessional jugglery — no subtlety of argument, can persuade the 
people of this country that their property can be taken from 
them without their consent, without crime, and without com- 



314 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

pensation. Their instincts tell them that this is wrong. They 
know that their property is their own. They know that one of 
the declared objects of this Government is to secure it. They 
know that this is not taxation, but plunder. They read the Con- 
stitution, and they see that it is forbidden there. They find it, 
they think, in the letter. If it is not in the letter, they know and 
feel that it has a spirit and a meaning, and they are as sure that 
is there, as they are sure of any truth that is taught them in 
God's inspired word. Nay, it is the very spirit of that word 
that has instructed them to defend all their natural rights, as it 
led their fathers across the ocean to seek their security here. 

Nor does it make any difference that others may have sup- 
posed this question to be decided, and invested their moneys 
upon the faith of it. They knew, or ought to have known, that 
it was not settled. They were aware of the risk, even where 
they bought honestly, and there is no instance, perhaps, wherein 
they have not indemnified themselves by a heavy discount. 
Were it otherwise, however, it was their own folly, for which 
we cannot be expected to suffer, and no default of ours. If they 
had kept their money, we had been safe. We never had it. We 
did not want it. We protested against their dealing with these 
men, on the hypothesis that the bonds were ours, or the sub- 
scriptions made by our authority. They conspired substantially 
with our supposed agents to cheat and ruin us. It will not 
serve them now to say that they rested upon a decision of the 
Supreme Court. That is but a shallow artifice. The men who 
talk in this way would put the judges in the position of indorsers, 
and hold them personally to their opinions by an appeal either 
to their sympathies, or to one of the infirmities of our common 
nature as men. The appeal might be legitimate if it were 
addressed to their own pockets. Even pride of opinion might 
in that case be not unfairly invoked. The argument will not, 
however, answer here. If these acts were unconstitutional then, 
they are unconstitutional noiv, and not the less so because a 
majority of the Court may have been honestly mistaken. They 
could not have authorized these subscriptions if the Constitution 
forbade them. To suppose that their error could change that 
instrument, would be a heresy more monstrous — if it were pos- 
sible — than the decision itself. They are sworn to support it. 
If it forbade the taking of your property for such a purpose, 
then it forbids it still, and the judge who said so then must say 
so now, if he is faithful to his trust, unless he has changed his 
mind as to its meaning, as it is not disputed he may honestly 
do. If he continues of the same mind he cannot abandon your 
defence to save the money of any bondholder — be he citizen or 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 315 

alien — by depriving you of your rights, and stripping the widow 
and the orphan of their property. The interest of the bond- 
holders can weigh nothing in such a controversy as this. 

Supposing, however, it were even settled that the Philadel- 
phia act was constitutional, it is still not true by any means that 
the question of your liability is settled here. There are other 
points involved in the present issue, which have never been 
passed upon. 

The act, for example, which authorized the county subscrip- 
tion to the Allegheny Valley Road, provided that the amount 
should be fixed by the Grand Jury, and empowered the Commis- 
sioners to subscribe that sum, and no other, and to issue bonds 
therefor. It prescribed moreover, the condition that these bonds 
should not be negotiated below par. The Grand Jury indicated 
a million. The Commissioners subscribed $750,000. In their 
hurry to close the whole matter in the face of a protest upon 
their own files, they issued a single bond for the whole amount, 
and afterwards took up that bond and issued seven hundred and 
fifty others. The company, disregarding the provisions of the 
law, disposed of these bonds at a heavy loss. The buyers knew 
that they were purchasing in violation of the Act of Assembly. It 
was a part also of the agreement that the interest on these bonds 
should be paid by the company until the road was finished, and 
this was of course known to the buyers also, if not incorporated 
in the bonds. The company obtained its subscriptions here, 
with the assurance that other counties, more deeply interested, 
were pledged to co-operate. The subscriptions of these counties 
were afterwards obtained. In some cases the bonds were 
secured. In others they have not been asked for, and are not it 
seems to be enforced. None of them, however, have been sold. 
While yours have been thrown upon the market at great 
sacrifices and in violation of the law, your supposed partners in 
misfortune have been favored and spared, and your Com- 
missioners in the fullness of their munificence, have volunteered 
to assume the burthen, lay it upon your patient and submissive 
shoulders, and tax you for the relief of other counties, while the 
people of those counties are looking on in quiet and security, no 
doubt greatly edified by your docility, and equally amazed at the 
generosity of your agents, and the extreme disinterestedness of 
your press. 

The Press, it is true, has pronounced against you. That 
you are liable, however, for the Bonds so issued and negotiated, 
or that you may be taxed under such extraordinary circum- 
stances for the payment, is a question which no judicial tribunal 
has ever yet decided. On general principles, we think you are not. 



3l6 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

and that the Courts must so hold. If these extraordinary powers 
are to be administered with any thing like the strictness which 
has been assigned to a charter of public liberty in the declaration 
of rights, there can be no difficulty in the case whatever. 

How is it then in regard to the Steubenville Road? In this 
case there were two county subscriptions of $250,000 each — 
both made under the authority of one and the same Act of 
Assembly. That Act authorized the Commissioners to sub- 
scribe a sum not exceeding 10,000 shares upon the recommenda- 
tion of one Grand Jury. The amount recommended was all 
that the law authorized. The Commissioners subscribed the 
half of it. If they had a discretion, their power would seem to 
have ended there. A year or two afterwards another Board 
subscribed the residue. The Bonds were not to be sold below 
par, and the interest was to be paid by the Company. They 
were iss'ued and sold at rates that were almost incredibly 
ruinous. The work is unfinished, and you have ceased to have 
any tangible interest in it at all. The Commissioners, volun- 
teers, as in the other case — and acting substantially for the 
Bondholders and not for you — are endeavoring to tax you for 
the payment of this interest; and the newspapers tell you that 
you ought to pay, and that it has been solemnly decided that 
you must pay. It has never been so decided, and if the wish 
be not with them "the father to the thought," it is not easy to 
conjecture why they should cry down all measures of defence, 
and insist upon submission, when ruin to their own readers must 
be its consequence. 

The next and last of the confessed bankrupts, who are now 
clamoring for your purses, is the Chartiers. And here, by the 
very terms of the Act of Assembly itself, the interest is to be 
paid by the Company, and there would seem, therefore, to be no 
obligation on us, at all events, until the Road is finished. 

But this is not all. The decision of the Supreme Court 
which is cited against you with as much evident gusto, and with 
an air of triumph, as ill-concealed as though its supporters were 
themselves your creditors or their attorneys — has a worm at its 
root which has been overlooked by those who are so snugly 
reposing in its shade, with their eyes turned upward, in admira- 
tion of its broad crown and its clustering leaves. The apostles 
of this new faith are not instructed in the great chapter of 
human rights. They sink the individuality of the man in the 
idea of the government, which is made by him and for him, 
and for no other purpose. The inviolability of property is with 
them a pure myth, as standing in a position of antagonism to 
the popular idea of a majority rule. They are not aware that 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 317 

this decision rests upon the hypothesis that these laws involve 
an exercise of the taxing power, and are to be defended only as 
Tax or Revenue Laws. If this be so, then, by the express terms 
of the Constitution, they could only originate in the House of 
Representatives. It so happens, however, that many, if not the 
larger portion of them, originated in the Senate, and, in that 
case, they must, upon the tax hypothesis, and upon the authority 
of the very case relied on, be necessarily invalid. And this, we 
think, is a dilemma from which no legal ingenuity can save 
them. 

Failing all these objections, however, which have never been 
passed upon by our Courts, there is a refuge still left in the fact 
that there is no special act of Assembly to authorize these impo- 
sitions. The existence of a public debt, incurred by your Com- 
missioners for purposes mainly extra-territorial, does not, by 
any means, involve the right to seize upon your property for its 
payment. The county and cities are no commercial partnerships, 
and the commissioners and councils are not the masters of your 
property. They cannot levy a tax, we think, for purposes of 
this kind, without a special authority, because they are not 
strictly county or city purposes. They claim them to be such, 
however, and it is on that pretext that they have now attacked 
you. If you should defeat the present attempt on this ground 
only — and there is a limit to taxation at all events, for county 
purposes — you will then be able to take care of yourselves, by 
allowing no man to represent you in the Legislature who is not 
solemnly pledged to resist any and every attempt to levy money 
from you for purposes of this description. You will be aided 
in this by the Representatives of other counties, whose people 
have been dealt with in the same way. There are many of them, 
and their investments are almost sure to be no better than ours, 
under a system which was invented to bolster up worthless 
enterprises, and to open a compulsory access to the pockets of 
the people. 

Taking it then that you are not bound by an inexorable 
fate, as the advocates of the Railroads and bondholders would 
have you to believe, the next question is, what are you to do? 
If you have a defence, you will make it of course. You cannot 
afford to submit, upon the advice so kindly given to you by 
those who profess to be your friends, but are no wise alarmed at 
the idea of your ruin. If it were the evil of a day, and payment 
would bring you an acquittance for the future, you might choose 
to submit to injustice, rather than encounter the vexations of 
a controversy. Then, however, it would be purely voluntary. No 
sound Democrat or Republican could advise you to submit 



3l8 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

quietly to wrong. But payment, unfortunately, brings no relief. 
The cancer is still there and still eating into your vitals. From 
the moment it fastened upon you, your prosperity began to 
languish, and your rate of progression to decline. With richer 
natural endowments than any other inland community in Amer- 
ica, you have fallen behind when you ought and must have led 
in the race of prosperity, if the bounties of Providence had not 
been neutralized by the folly and profligacy of your rulers. The 
shadow has been projected on you in advance. You stagger 
under the very apprehension of what the future has in store for 
you. No arithmetic can compute how much you have already 
been injured. When the whole force of the blow shall descend 
upon you like an avalanche, the principle of growth and life 
will be extinguished entirely. Nor is the force of that blow to 
be measured only by the amount of the debt. A perpetual mort- 
gage of even 14^ per cent, is a diminution in effect to one-third 
of the value, if it does not render the property entirely unsala- 
ble. The prospect of a three mill tax drove many a farmer from 
Pennsylvania. Will the prospect of a 12 or 22 mill tax invite 
anybody here ? Who will willingly venture his goods in a trade 
where piracy is legalized by the commercial code? Who will 
put his hands into the lion's mouth, when he can invest his 
means securely elsewhere? Will the people come up to Pitts- 
burgh as the Jews were wont to repair to their capital at the 
bidding of the Caesars, merely "to be taxed?" 

You cannot afford to yield then where concession brings no 
relief, and the sacrifice must be a total one. You cannot pay 
without ruin. The makers of this debt have indeed settled that 
question by swelling it to a magnitude which renders payment 
impossible. You have no choice therefore but to defend your- 
selves. The men who advise you to submit are not your friends, 
or the friends of the County or cities, but are, whether they 
intend it or not, your worst enemies, as they have been your 
worst advisers. If they had been truly what they profess, they 
would never have driven you to such an alternative. Men do 
not so deal with the interests of those they love. 

They tell you, however, that this is repudiation — that repudi- 
ation would be infamous — that the credit as well as the honor 
of our communities would suffer, and that sound morals enjoin 
the sacrifice. 

Is this so? Has it indeed come to this dreadful alternative? 
Have these men hurried you to the brink of the giddy precipice, 
with ruin yawning at your feet, and ruin, not less hideous, 
menacing you from behind? Must you die in order that you 
may live? Must city and county perish to save their honor — 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 319 

or is it only the honor and credit of your advisers that are at 
stake? Does the law of conscience say "pay ?" If it does, then 
we say so too. Perish then the county and cities, with all their 
high hopes and glorious prospects ! Let the widow and orphan 
be turned out of doors, if need be, and let the bondholder enter 
forthwith upon his possession, and the debt be paid to the utter- 
most farthing! 

It is not so, however. These debts are not of your making. 
They have never had your assent. They never could have had 
it, if you had been consulted. You were not consulted, because 
it was well understood you would refuse. You could not pre- 
vent it, when you were denied even the privilege of dissent. It 
was a proceeding between the Legislature and their agents, 
and the Commissioners, from which you were excluded, on the 
hypothesis that it was none of your business. The high con- 
tracting parties dealt with you as a subject province in a treaty 
between independent sovereigns. Your consent was not regarded 
as of the slightest consequence. Nor were the bonds purchased 
by any man on such a presumption. The inquiry was not even 
made. The buyer did not care whether you consented or not. 
The subscription and the seal were but a formulary prescribed by 
your pretended masters. The grand jury and Councilmen who 
made the one, and the Commissioners and Mayor who affixed 
the other, were no more your agents, in these acts, than they 
were the agents of the people of Philadelphia, and not as much 
so. The duties were not such as pertained to the offices of either. 
The buyer cared not for you. He considered that he had bought 
you from the Legislature. He came here merely to take the 
transfer from the nominal authorities, relying not on your con- 
sent, but on a power which he supposed to be above you, and 
able to compel you to make Railroads in other counties, whether 
you were willing or not. And this was precisely the language 
held, at the time, to the refractory, by the advocates of these 
arbitrary measures. "We will make you subscribe; we will build 
Railroads with your property, whether you will or not," was the 
common utterance of the very men who now falsely assume 
that these debts were made by you, and edify you with such 
pious homilies about repudiation! Where there is no moral 
agency it is the sheerest nonsense and hypocrisy to talk 
about a moral obligation. The men who hold this language 
are not probably aware that the whole question was settled in 
the case on which they rely as a question of mere power, and 
therefore, in effect, a political one, and that consent or contract, 
either expressed or implied did not enter as an element into its 
solution. It is simply a question then between power and privi- 



320 



THOMAS WILLIAMS 



lege — between the government and the man — between the 
creature and the creator. If it be a crime to resist or question 
the unlawful exercise of the taxing power, even by constitutional 
means, then have our sturdy ancestors passed into hopeless 
condemnation. There were men in the revolution, as well as 
now, who worshipped power, and loved their ease, and coun- 
selled submission, but they heeded not such advisers, and were 
content to be called rebels — as we are to be nick-named repudi- 
ators — until their oppressors came to understand and to respect 
them. 

Where, then, is the moral obligation, and where the infamy ? 
We trust you will not be frightened by hard names. There is 
no harm in refusing to pay the debts of other people. That is a 
kind of repudiation which is very general. To pay his own 
debts, is all that is required of an honest man, and is about 
as much as most men are able to attend to. To give away his 
property at the bidding of the reckless, or the profligate, would 
be to take from the honest and bestow on the undeserving, and 
would be an act of injustice as well to our families as to our 
creditors. But this is not all. The cause of morality is not to 
be subserved by pandering to vice. It is as much the duty of 
a good citizen to resist injustice, as it is to obey the mandates 
of the law. The infamy does not attach to him who resists, 
but to him who unjustly attempts to invade the property of his 
neighbor. It is the men who made these debts heedlessly, reck- 
lessly, and without knowing how they ever were to be paid — 
it is the men who now endeavor to rob you for that purpose, 
who have the most reason to blush for their conduct. It is 
admitted by the Judge who gave the casting vote on this ques- 
tion, in an opinion that savors much of the character of an apol- 
ogy, that all legislation to authorize these things is "impolitic, dan- 
gerous and immoral." The same Judge had previously declared 
in his letter to the Commissioners of Somerset county, that such 
subscriptions are "not honest;" that "they rob labor of the bread 
it earns" — that "they create public debts for private purposes" 
— that if they can be made "there is an end of all protection to 
individual rights" — and that "the Commissioners of a county 
have no moral right to make them, though hacked by the wishes 
of a majority of the people." If all this be true — and it is testi- 
mony drawn from the defenders of these laws themselves — it 
is the authors of the calamity — the men who legislated — the 
men who made these debts — and last, but not least, the men who 
are not unwilling to ruin you by fastening this burthen upon 
your shoulders, that merit the reproaches not less of the moral- 
ist than of the freeman. If these subscriptions are not honest, 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 32 1 

it is surely not honest to enforce them. If the people did not 
make them, the levy of a tax for such a purpose is no better 
than highway robbery. Its advocates might as well have set fire 
to your houses, and then endeavor to prevent you from extin- 
guishing the flames. Your property is, or ought to be, as sacred 
as your lives. It does not belong to the Government. It is yours 
by a higher charter than man can give. It owes, it is true, a 
fractional contribution for the support of government. That, 
however, is but the return for the protection which it receives. 
Beyond that, the Government has no right to meddle with it. 
It cannot take it under the pretence of protecting it. When it 
withdraws its protection, it breaks the tie of allegiance and 
sweeps away the very basis of the obligation. Nor is it to be 
taken because the bondholder may be honest and would other- 
wise suffer. It was not honest to buy these bonds under the 
temptation of heavy discounts, and thus confederate with the 
seller in the attem.pt to cheat you. 

He is not, however, any more honest than the owner of the 
freehold on which he claims to have a lien — nor any more an 
object of sympathy than the helpless victim. He has the demerit, 
too, of being a volunteer. The man whose farm has been mort- 
gaged without his knowledge or consent, has done nothing to 
mislead him, and may stand, as in other cases, upon his posses- 
sion. To rob him because another has allowed himself to be 
swindled, is only to repair one act of injustice by another and 
greater. To resist such injustice is more than a mere right. 
It is of the character of a duty. Nor is any man to be allowed to 
plead indolence as an excuse. The duty is a political as well as 
a moral one. Our liberties are an inheritance which has cost 
us comparatively nothing, and a trust, therefore, like our estates, 
for our posterity, which we are equally bound to preserve and to 
defend. If we prove recreant to this great trust, we are but 
slaves ourselves, and not worthy to be the progenitors of free- 
men. The principle which would bind you here would equally 
authorize the Legislature to place it in the power of the County 
Commissioners, or any newspaper editor in Pittsburgh, to seize 
your farms to-morrow for any purpose which they might suppose 
to be for your advantage ! It abrogates the law of the Decalogue 
by confounding the distinction between mine and thine, and 
strikes a death-blow at the social state itself. True patriotism and 
sound morals alike cry shame on it as the foe of social order, 
of progress, and of private right. Call it resistance, repudiation, 
or by what other name you please, submission would be only 
less infamous than the infliction itself. 

But then the honor and credit of the town ! Well, this seems 



322 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

to be an untiring theme with those who have perilled the one and 
destroyed the other! If they have suffered, as they truly have, 
the obvious remedy would seem to be one which has not been 
thought of by your advisers, and that is to get rid as speedily 
as possible of those who have ruled and ruined you. If a phy- 
sician has poisoned your family by his quackery, you would 
scarcely think of allowing him, under pretence of cure, to com- 
plete his work by administering another dose of his own med- 
icine. You would discharge him, of course, and that is precisely 
the first step in the way of recovery here. The honor and credit 
of the town and county will both return as soon as it is felt and 
known that they are free from debt, and that property here is 
once more secure. Their corporate honor is a matter which is 
in the keeping of the Legislature, and not in ours. They are 
but governmental agencies which may be changed at pleasure, 
and if they are to be used as they have been, in farming them 
out to railroad companies, it is idle to talk about any efforts on 
our part to preserve an ornament at once so cheap and so expen- 
sive. Their corporate credit is one of those equivocal blessings 
which a wise man would rather dispense with, if it is to be 
entrusted to others for the ruin of his property. It was the 
overthrow of the public credit that saved the State in 1840. If 
we had been without credit here, we had been without a railroad 
debt. If our credit had held out a little longer, we should prob- 
ably have been left without any property. Our individual honor 
and credit are another and different thing. We are bound up in 
no commercial partnership, thank Heaven, with those who made 
these debts. The county and cities are one thing, and the people 
another. If individuals will pay their own debts, and observe 
all their own obligations, they may rest easy in regard to the 
honor and credit of these communities. These jewels will be no 
more tarnished by resistance to unlawful taxation than were the 
honor and credit of the Colonies by the Revolution ; and much 
less so than the nation deserved to be, for the practical repudi- 
ation of its legitimate revolutionary debt. It is the State only, 
and her agents here, that can suffer in such a controversy. 

We come back then to the consideration of the remedy. The 
mischief is a great one. It is impossible to exaggerate it. It is 
a life and death question. It concerns no less than the existence 
of these communities. The danger is that it may be undervalued, 
from the difficulty of even realizing such a power of ruin let 
loose upon a free community. We wish to give the question a 
practical aspect. We have already referred to the legal reme- 
dies. There are other modes of relief, however, not less effica- 
cious, and perhaps more certain in their operation, which are 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 323 

peculiarly your own. You have tried the efificacy of advice, and 
recommendation and remonstrance. At your recent Convention 
you protested against this tax. You asked, as a favor, that it 
might be divided, in order that you might know and pay what 
was confessedly legal. You insisted on a divorce between our 
corporations and the railroad companies. You objected to the 
purchase by the Pennsylvania Company of the Main Line of 
the Public Works. You recommended the immediate acceptance 
of an offer made to re-exchange the County Bonds for the 
stock held by us in that road. Your advice and remonstrances 
have been disregarded and contemned. The men who are in 
power, and their advisers, are leagued with your pretended 
creditors, and obviously bent upon your ruin. You have the 
means, however, of causing them to be respected hereafter. 

The ballot box — your weapon of defence — is open to you. 
The elections are approaching. If you would save your property 
and restore the prosperity of these communities, you must get 
rid of the influences and put down the men whose acts and 
counsels have so nearly ruined you. You have no choice left. 
It has become a matter of absolute and urgent necessity to take 
the affairs of the county into your own hands. There are 
Judges to be chosen at the approaching election. The people 
make them, and it is not an improper subject of inquiry, surely, 
whether any of the candidates hold the opinion that the Con- 
stitution furnishes no security to property, and that the Decla- 
ration of Rights is to be construed strictly as against the citizen. 
There are members of the Legislature too, to be selected by the 
people. Without special legislation there is no authority to tax. 
It concerns you to know who are in favor of such laws, and 
who would vote against them. You have a County Commis- 
sioner to choose. You want the control of that office especially. 
It is now the stronghold of your enemies. It is essential to 
your welfare that you should throw open its doors, and let the 
light in upon the hoarded mysteries of that chamber of death. 
You can send your committee back again this fall, with fifteen 
thousand voters, to demand its keys, and teach its inmates what 
sort of a "mob" they have been dealing with. It is for you to 
see that the man who goes there shall not be or become the 
agent of the railroads or the collecting attorney of the bond- 
holders, or consent to le\7 a tax from you, under any circum- 
stances, for railroad purposes. You have a Treasurer to choose, 
also. You must have a man in that office who will pay no 
warrants drawn upon him for objects of that description. You 
have an Auditor to select. It is his duty to examine and pass 
upon the public accounts. You want a man for that purpose 



324 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

who will keep the Commissioners and Treasurer in check, and 
see that the public moneys are not squandered for illegitimate 
purposes. 

All these are matters of a purely local character, which 
concern us much more deeply than any mere speculative opinions 
on the subject of national politics. Political parties are organ- 
ized for the conservation of our natural rights — which are our 
liberties — and one of which is the inviolability of property. 
They all profess to aim at the same object, though by different 
means. They are all founded upon the supposed existence of 
such a thing as property. If the notions now current amongst 
your advisers, and supposed to have the assent of the Supreme 
Court, are to prevail, and your freeholds may be mortgaged and 
seized, as it insisted in some quarters that they may be, it is 
idle to talk about property. There is no such thing. That is a 
question therefore, which you must settle in the first instance, 
because without property there is no occasion for parties, except 
as mere tools for demagogues, or playthings for children. On 
this point there can be no substantial difference between true 
Republicans and true Democrats. We hold that no man is 
entitled to be called by either of these names who entertains 
opinions that are at war with the securities of property. The 
question of the preponderance of the Free or Slave States, as 
referring to the great future of this confederacy, remote in its 
bearings upon us, and strictly national in its character, is one 
upon which men may honestly, and we hope safely, differ. We 
cannot differ safely upon the question whether we shall be 
slaves ourselves. We may, and ought to agree on this point, all 
of us. If we do not, the lovers of freedom at least, the con- 
servative men of both parties, cannot afford to divide upon so 
vital an issue as this. The question of Taxation for Railroad 
purposes, at the arbitrary will of the Legislature, and without 
regard even to equality, is one that comes home with over- 
whelming power to the business and bosoms of all of us. In an 
election like that which is now approaching, it is indeed the 
only real, living, breathing and practical issue, as it is by far the 
greatest that has ever been before you. 

In view of these considerations then, your convention, 
assembled without distinction of party, thought proper earnestly 
and anxiously to invite the attention of the nominating con- 
ventions of both political parties in this county to the great 
local grievances under which you were suffering, and the still 
greater with which you are threatened. You informed them 
explicitly that you desired and demanded justice to yourselves, 
security to your property, a thorough inquiry, and an entire 



reform in the administration of the affairs of this county. You 
indicated the several matters of complaint, and you admonished 
them that you would support no man for office who did not come 
up to the standard which you had prescrihed. 

The Republican Convention assembled on the following day. 
It ignored your existence, your opinions and your wants. Its 
press condemned your action, and suppressed its results. It 
placed a ticket in nomination without promising a reform, or 
vouchsafing even a reference to existing evils, in the most 
alarming crisis that had ever occurred in our affairs. It con- 
tented itself with a mere declaration as to the principles of a 
case which touched the liberties of the black man, without a 
word in relation to another and a greater which clove down the 
liberties of the white man, blasted the prosperity of city and 
county as with a plague, and smote its own constituents with 
civil death. There was the usual scramble for office, and no 
thought given to the fact that town and country were in mourn- 
ing. It placed upon its ticket the editor of a newspaper who had 
suppressed the report of your Convention, and who is not 
ashamed to libel the cause and the men of our revolution, by 
sneering at the cry of "increased Taxation" as a mere "money 
issue" — "a gaunt and spavined hobby" — unworthy to be ridden 
by any advocate of freedom. It had no sooner adjourned than 
the boast was heard upon our streets, that every man who had 
voted with the majority in your Convention — or in other words 
— every man who had favored even inquiry into the honesty of 
these railroad debts — was marked in that Convention. The 
same sentiment was publicly announced a few days afterwards 
in a communication, published without remark, in the news- 
paper of the same candidate. 

Your Committee lamented all this deeply. Some of them 
were Republicans, and desired earnestly to see their party ticket 
pledged in favor of what they believed to be their honest and 
almost universal sentiment. All of them were cificens, and all 
anxious for entire harmony between the parties upon this great 
domestic question. They believed that a strong expression of 
sentiment from the first Convention would lead to a like 
expression from that which was to follow. The sentiment of the 
Republicans, unfairly smothered as they believe, by city manage- 
ment, was not however, allowed to find expression. Your Com- 
mittee were deeply disappointed, and they determined to await 
the action of the Democratic Convention, resolved as one man, 
that if it too refused to respond to what they knew to be the 
popular sentiment, they would throw themselves upon the people, 



326 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

and make the issue of tax or no tax — property or no property — 
reform or ruin — by a direct appeal. 

The Democratic Convention assembled in August. Its 
members were not unadvised of the wishes and necessities of the 
people. The popular cry had come up in thunders to their ears, 
and they responded without hesitation to the just and reasonable 
demands of the suffering Tax-Payers. Realizing their obliga- 
tions to the people, respecting the voice of your convention, and 
alive to the momentous and urgent interests of the great local 
issues which were obviously destined to overshadow all others, 
they turned their attention at once, and mainly to these ques- 
tions, and satisfied every requisition which had been made upon 
them. Their platform of principles on this subject is before 
you. Your Committee had no difficulty in understanding its 
meaning. The tone of their primary meetings, and the address 
of their State Central Committee, denouncing the policy of 
municipal subscriptions to Railroads, and treating the question 
of their constitutionality as more than doubtful, and at least 
an open one, would readily have determined that, if it had, in 
their judgment, admitted of a doubt. They were content with 
the expression of that body, and was accordingly prepared to 
indorse and recommend its ticket. They were not, however, 
allowed to hold their opinions unquestioned. The Republican 
Press, in salutary dread of the public sentiment which was now 
making itself but too manifest, insisted that it did not mean 
what it seemed to say, and to their infinite surprise, its own 
newspapers concurred in that opinion ! With this new and 
violent reading, in direct variance, as they thought, with the 
whole tone and spirit of the Resolutions, and thus semi-ofhcially 
indorsed, there was but one course left for them. They were 
not willing to be duped themselves — to be made the instruments 
of misleading others — or to allow you to be juggled out of your 
purpose of self-protection and reform, by the assurance that you 
had no more to expect from one ticket than the other. They 
accordingly addressed at once the following interrogatories to 
the candidates of that party, with the request that they should 
answer "yea" or "nay," without equivocation or reserve : 

First. Are you in favor of levying a tax from the people of 
Allegheny county, or either of the cities of Pittsburgh or Allegheny, 
for the purpose of paying the interest on bonds issued for sub- 
scription made by Commissioners or Councils, to the capital stock 
of Railroad Companies? 

Second. If elected to the office for which you have been nomi- 
nated, will you refuse to assess or levy a tax for any such purpose, 
and will you, in good faith, oppose the passage of any law authorizing 
any such tax? 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 327 

Third. Will you, in good faith, aid in securing the passage of 
a law limiting taxation to purposes strictly municipal? 

The answers of the candidates were promptly given, and 
are, as we expected they would be, direct, pointed and precise. 
They pledge themselves distinctly against taxation for railroad 
purposes, against the passage of any law to authorize it, and in 
favor of an act to limit taxation to purposes strictly municipal. 
The resolutions of their convention had already committed them 
against the whole system of free tickets to members of the 
Legislature, Judges and newspaper editors, as an insidious 
means of corruption, which called imperatively for public inter- 
vention. 

Your Committee, in view of the previous refusal of the 
Republican Convention to respond to your own urgent appeal, 
as well as of the published opinions and acts of several of their 
candidates — one a newspaper editor, and two others, members 
of the last Legislature, who voted for a law to tax the people of 
this city, which no man can justify— might have stopped at 
that point. Some of them were, however, Republicans them- 
selves, and deeming it no more than an act of justice to afiford the 
candidates of that party an opportunity of speaking for them- 
selves, they accordingly addressed the same inquiries to them. 

The general reply which speaks for all of them, we believe, 
except one, will tell its own story. The answers are evasive. 
Instead of informing you whether they are in favor of taxing 
you for Railroad purposes, they tell you that they are in favor 
of investigation, and opposed to the payment of any bond which 
has been fraudulently obtained by the holder. They do not 
object, however, to the present tax, or propose to withdraw the 
duplicates, and leave the bondholders to their remedies. You 
are to pay first and investigate afterwards, if you choose, at 
your own expense, provided you can find your way into the Com- 
missioners' office, which they do not, however, promise to open 
to you. They will stand by you when the bond has come fraud- 
ulently to the holder. If it was fraudulently issued, they have 
no medicine for your ailment. If you and the holder are both 
wronged and both innocent, they send their sympathies abroad, 
and refuse you, their neighbors, the advantage of the legal 
axiom. The answer is, however, a substantial affirmative, or in 
other words, that they are in favor of taxing you for railroad 
purposes. 

To the question whether they will, in good faith, refuse to 
assess a Tax, and oppose the enactment of any law to authorize 
an assessment for such a purpose, they make no answer what- 
ever. The importance of this question is already shown in the 



328 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

suggestion that the corporation is one thing, and the people are 
another, and that even a judgment against the former imports 
no right to seize the property of the latter for its payment. 
The general tenor of the reply involves a negative to this ques- 
tion. 

To the inquiry whether they are in favor of the passage of 
a law to limit Taxation to purposes purely municipal, they 
answer affirmatively, with a saving clause in favor of debts 
already incurred. They are not, therefore, in favor of the 
passage of a law to prohibit Taxation for the payment of debts 
already incurred by your Commissioners and Councils for Rail- 
road purposes. 

On the subject of free tickets — a systematic abuse, and an 
insidious but immeasurable element of power, which does not 
merely affect your own supposed interests, as stockholders, but 
threatens the entire subjugation of this Commonwealth — no ques- 
tion was necessary, and none, therefore, was put to the candi- 
dates. The Democratic Convention had already answered dis- 
tinctly on that point, while the Republican press had publicly 
reproved their interference, on the ground that it was no concern 
of theirs^ or of any body but the stockholders — thus openly pro- 
claiming, in effect, that there is no public mischief in purchas- 
ing the good will either of a Legislator or of a Judge, provided, 
it is done with their own money ! 

There is one gentleman, however, on the Republican ticket, 
who is not responsible for these utterances. Your Committee, 
looking to the success of no party, but to the constitutional 
securities of the citizen only, are rejoiced to find, in the midst 
of the general defection, one shining example of loyalty to a 
great principle, in the person of Thomas Kiddoo, one of the can- 
didates for the Legislature, of that party. "Faithful amongst 
the faithless" — unmoved and unseduced by numbers or example, 
and with a sense of self-reliance and independence that does him 
honor, Mr. Kiddoo has not hesitated to brave the displeasure of 
those who seem to think that the test and essence of Republican- 
ism are fidelity to the bond holders, by answering the questions 
put to him in the same way precisely as the Democratic candi- 
dates, and with a directness and emphasis that show him to be 
in earnest. He is opposed to taxation for railroad purposes, and 
will vote against any law to authorize it, and in favor of a law 
to limit taxation to purposes strictly municipal. 

The lists then are at last fairly adjusted. The Conventions 
and the candidates have each chosen their positions, and must 
abide the consequences. There is no question of Republicanism 
or Democracy here, except so far as concerns a single candidate. 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 329 

It is the merest child's play to attempt to fasten upon either party 
the responsibility of these subscriptions. We should be sorry 
to confess that they belonged to either. Individuals may be 
found in both who favored them, and the Press of both unques- 
tionably did the same, but we altogether deny the right of 
either to speak for us as a community, or to be called by our 
names. The great question now is — and it is a question to be 
passed upon by men and not by children — who are they that 
take the side of the Bondholder, and would enforce this claim 
even to our common ruin? — and who are they, on the other 
hand, that are on the side of the people ? The Republican Tax- 
Payers are denied the privilege of voting on the mere party 
issues by the voluntary act of their own Convention, in espous- 
ing the cause of the Commissioners and the Bondholders, by 
refusing even to notice or condemn the most outrageous abuses, 
and thus gathering them all under the cover of their own pro- 
tecting wings. They have thus thrown themselves into the false 
and fatal position of attorneys for the creditors. You, fellow- 
citizens, are the debtors whom they are proposing to coerce. 
The interests of these two classes are essentially antagonistic. 
The same attorneys cannot safely represent you both. You 
require agents of your own, and if you can find men who will 
agree to protect your interests and serve you on your own 
terms, it will scarcely be expected that you shall refuse to employ 
them, merely because they happen to be Democrats, and to put 
your cause into the hands of your adversary's counsel, merely 
because they profess to be Republicans. They offer you Repub- 
licanism with the Bonds. You cannot have it without them. 
You must take it with the incumbrance. They have been so 
married by the act of that Convention, that infidelity to the 
latter, in the answer of a candidate, is publicly declared by its 
Press to be a sufficient cause of divorce from its ticket and party, 
for which no amount of zeal, or devotion to the Republican cause 
is to be received as an expiation. Fidelity to the bondholder is 
thus, by their own election made the test of orthodoxy, and the 
whole issue narrowed down to the one practical question between 
the bondholder and you. The declaration already made in the 
press of his own colleague that Mr. Kiddoo has cut himself ofif 
from his party by his answer, is a confession of this truth. Nor 
is the issue now to be evaded. If the ticket nominated by the 
Republican Convention is elected, it will not help you either in 
the Commissioners' ofifice or at Harrisburg. All it promises is, 
taxes without end, and ever taxes. Its election will be a public 
judgment — whether you intend it or not — on the question, and a 



330 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

public confession of your liability and willingness to pay this 
tax, and all that are to follow it. 

The election of the Democratic ticket, on the other hand, 
while it can in no possible way, affect the great national issues, 
will place the public offices in the hands of those who agree with 
you at least in the great practical question of resistance to Rail- 
road Taxation, and who will be invested with no powers of any 
other kind that can possibly be used to your injury. That party 
has already in the office of the County Commissioners a represent- 
ative who has another year to serve. Its records show that he 
objected to the present Tax, and registered his solemn protest 
against the action of the Board in imposing it. The election, 

THEN, OF J. H. McElHINNEY WILL MAKE THAT OFFICE YOURS 

THIS FALL. You can send him there with a majority of votes 
that will demonstrate your opinions in such a way as will not 
be misunderstood, and with the evasion of the Railroads, and 
such instructions as he will have from you, we see no reason 
why the present tax should not be revoked, the duplicates 
recalled, and the bondholders turned round to their legal reme- 
dies. To accomplish even this would be worth a sacrifice. It 
will involve no sacrifice at all. If it will help the Democrats, it 
will help us all. We would not refuse such a boon at the 
hands of any party. We would not stop to inquire whether 
any good thing could come out of Nazareth. We would 
consider it cheaply purchased by the contribution of all the 
votes we have to bestow ; and if any doubt is entertained on this 
point, we have only to refer to the revelations just now made, 
for the first time, from the minutes of that office. 

We have already indicated the several offices which it is 
essential that you should secure. Beyond that point we may 
afford to separate, and every man to follow that direction in 
which his party attachments may lead him. Your committee 
are divided in their politics. They think it will be conceded that 
there are amongst them men whose attachments to the principles 
of their respective parties are as strong, and who would go 
as far to serve them honestly, as any other men in the 
county. They have, however, no party interests to serve in 
this matter, and will not consent to sacrifice either their own 
rights or yours to any mere party organization. They look only 
to the opinions and pledges of the men who are now before the 
people as candidates for office. They know and feel that in this 
direction lies safety to all — without distinction of party ; in any 
other, RUIN. The Republican members will give the preference 
of course to their own party, so far as they can do it safely. For 
the offices to which they have referred, there is but one candi- 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 33 1 

date, however, for whom they feel it possible for them to vote. 
Beyond that candidate they have no alternative but to support 
those who think as he does, without regard to their party name. 
They will be prepared to fall again into their own ranks for the 
great national battle, when our domestic altars are again built 
up — when the common enemy — the enemy of the growth and 
prosperity of these great communities, whose dark shadow is 
now over us, repressing our growth and stifling the very pulses 
of our life, shall be forever put to flight. You will do as you 
please. It is not their right to dictate. It is their province, 
however, to advise. They feel that the action of the Democratic 
Convention, and the answers of their candidates, have opened 
to you a safe path, and, possibly, the only one, out of the deep 
gloom which surrounds you. They cannot turn their backs upon 
it. The members of that party are pledged to follow it, and will 
do so, of course ; and the Republican members of this Committee, 
believing it to be no more than the honest sentiment of their 
own party, and yielding to no other men in fidelity to all its 
principles, but joining hands with their Democratic associates, 
who have stood manfully by them, through reproach and con- 
tumely say to their Republican brethren, "Go and do likewise." 
Mistrust not your own power. Hearken not to the degeneracy 
which would advise a quiet and unresisting submission to the 
deprivation of a great constitutional right, or disparage, as a 
mere "money question," one of these great issues upon which 
the battles of our race for freedom have been almost invariably 
fought. On such a question, to use the language of the late 
Chief Justice Black, "we can not and we will not, be ultimately 
beaten." The victory of a great popular right will save us from 
present impositions, teach party managers the necessity of 
deferring to the will of the people, and make the inviolability of 
property the common sentiment of both parties hereafter. 
By order of the Committee. 

Thos. Williams, Chairman. 
S. H. Geyer, Sec'y. 

The results of the appeal and the campaign that fol- 
lowed were successful, and the new board of commis- 
sioners, under the guidance of Mr. Williams, as counsel, 
whose services were freely given, began a systematic 
course of resistance to levying taxes for the disputed 
purposes. The amendments to the Constitution were 
carried also. It is not the purpose to follow out the 
affair in all its details, but only those striking and vital 



332 



THOMAS WILLIAMS 



features which illustrate the force of Mr. Williams' 
work.^ There were many cases that grew out of these 
railway contests in which Mr. Williams was engaged, 
especially involving Allegheny County and various 
municipalities within her borders. One of these was that 
of one Joseph T. Thomas, who secured from the Supreme 
Court of Pennsylvania an alternative mandamus ordering 
the commissioners to levy the necessary tax to pay 
interest on bonds of which Thomas was a holder. 
This was on May 21, 1858, and was heard later, with 
Harding and Meredith for the bond interests and Wil- 
liams for the commissioners.^ The court said the debt 
must be paid, and on November 11, 1858, made the final 
decree of mandamus to levy the taxes. The opinion was 
given by Justice Woodward, and as it can be seen in 
any lawyer's library it need not be repeated here. Forth- 
with Mr. W'illiams issued a "Review" of the opinion, 
under the pen-name of "Junius," although it probably 
did not conceal the writer from any one. It is a most 
impassioned and spirited paper, carrying in its sentences 
the lire of the conflict, and bearing some most brilliant 
periods. It projects one into the heart of that conflict as 
probably does no other paper that has ever been issued. 
Let it speak for itself: 

To the Hon. Geo. W. Woodward and his Associates, Justices of 
the Supreme Court. 
You have just accomplished a great work. Though sum- 
mary and precipitate, it cannot be said to be imperfect. It is 
complete in all its parts. The blow so well directed against 
the rights of property, might have fallen harmless upon our 
shields. To give it effect, it was necessary to strike down the 
constitutional defences of the citizen, and it is done. The 
courage which strengthened your hands for this double achieve- 
ment, will be disputed by nobody. It behooves those who so 
deal, however, to see that their footing is a solid one. The 
rights involved here are of the last importance. Though the 
book of Judges has been well said to press hard on that of 
Kings, it has not always been found by either Judges or Kings, 



As 



5 a part of the fight, his "Review of the Opinion of the Three Judges" 
was again issued on November 4, 1857, with an explanatory preface. He says 
the then Chief Justice (Lewis) and his colleague (Lowrie), it should be re- 
membered, had dissented vigorously from the opinions of the "Three Judges"— 
Black. M'oodward and Knox. 
2 8 Casey, 218. 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 333 

that it was safe to meddle with such interests as these. Those 
who adventure upon paths so perilous, must see, if they are 
wise, that they do not stumble. To escape with safety they 
must be invulnerable at every point. They must look even to 
the joints of their armor when they are out on such a mission 
as this. If there is a flaw, some well-aimed shaft will be sure 
to find it. If there is a wide-mouthed rent, a '"beggar's straw" 
will pierce it. 

This is now your position. The tyranny of the Legislature, 
which you professed yourselves but yesterday too feeble to check, 
is now overshadowed by a bolder usurpation of your own. That 
which was once their imposition, has now become yours. When 
their power was exhausted, you have stepped in to perfect 
their work. You have done this voluntarily. You have not 
waited to be called upon in the usual way. You have gone out 
of the ordinary path, and dispensed with the ordinary forms, to 
accomplish the overthrow of the most sacred and inviolable of 
our rights as freemen. You have allowed your zeal to hurry 
you out of your entrenchments, and to put you a long way in 
advance of the requirements of your position. You are now, 
by your own choice, in the attitude of volunteers, in cases where 
your authority as Judges has never been invoked. Your feet 
have been swift as the feet of those who run to shed blood, in 
the benevolent mission of serving the interests of a creditor 
without merit, who is aiming at the life of a people without 
offence. You who were impotent to prevent evil, are now 
omnipotent when its work is to be consummated. You fled 
ingloriously, because there was a lion in the way, when the 
enemy was sowing tares in our fields. Your own sickles are now 
in, like those of ready reapers, for the harvest of ruin, from 
which you ought to have turned away with averted eyes. 

Of all this, you, sir, have been made the organ and the 
apologist. There was a fitness in the selection which everybody 
will admit. You are, if I mistake not, the last surviving member 
of that unhappy triumvirate, to whose distracted counsels we 
owe a larger debt of misery than even Republican Rome 
incurred to hers. On your shoulders, therefore, rested the 
weight of a double responsibility — one to the money-dealer 
whom you had misled — another to the freeholder whom you had 
ruined. Your unfortunate blunder, like the sin of our first par- 
ents, had made it necessary that a victim should perish, and you 
selected the latter as the offering. In this you departed from the 
example of the Patriarch. The ram that was caught by the 
horns in the thicket would not content you. It was Isaac — the 
beloved — the innocent — him who was bone of your bone, and 



334 



THOMAS WILLIAMS 



flesh of your flesh, that was to be laid upon the altar. In vain 
he pleaded with you his birthright as a freeman. In vain he 
demanded even the felon's privilege of a trial by his peers. You 
heeded him not. The judgments of Verres were not more sum- 
mary than yours. Your brethren stood by with their sacrificial 
knives, and hurried a whole people to execution by a sentence 
which merged your first error in a greater one of their own. 
They thought that the honor of the priesthood was at stake, and 
that it was but right that the flock should perish for the mis- 
takes of the shepherds. They could not defend them, and they 
threw the responsibility on you. That responsibility is to myself 
as well as others. I propose to inquire how you have met it. I 
choose therefore, to address myself to you, without, however, 
exonerating your associates from that share of it which now 
belongs to them. It is a heavy burthen which rests upon you all 
—far heavier, I think, than any of you have imagined, judging 
from the alacrity with which it has been assumed. It is not, 
as you seem to suppose, a mere two-penny controversy between 
John Doe and Richard Roe, where even an indififerent logic 
must often be taken in satisfaction for a private wrong. If it 
was, I should not have thought it worth while to trouble you. 
It towers high above the ordinary level of forensic strife. It is 
a public question of colossal dimensions and fearful import. 
It is the rights and happiness of a whole people— the property 
and liberties of 200,000 freemen — the inheritance of generations 
yet unborn — against which you have been weighmg the tran- 
sient, and perishable, and contemptible interests of a few hundred 
money-dealers. It is not properly a judicial question. It is no 
voluntary contract which you were called on to execute, but a 
yoke which you have volunteered to impose, by the assumption 
of the taxing power, for the benefit of the stranger, upon the 
necks of those whose sword you bear, and whose servants you 
are. The affair with which you have been dealing, in a way 
so extraordinary, is, by your own previous confession, a question 
only of political power, 'ton cannot now, honestly, torture it 
into a moral obligation, or even an indenture of voluntary servi- 
tude. It is quite too big a question to be clouded by the 
subtleties of the casuist, or adjusted by the cunning artifices of 
the special pleader. It is one of those great issues of liberty 
that have not often been trusted to a class of sophists, whose 
leanings have been so proverbially on the side of power. It is 
a question, therefore, not of professional criticism only, but of 
high public concern, which belongs appropriately and pre-emi- 
nently to the tribunal of the people. To that tribunal you must 
answer for what you have just done. It is the court of last 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 335 

resort. You cannot decline its cognizance. No plea to the 
jurisdiction will avail you there. Before that tribunal I now, 
accordingly, arraign you. In that presence I am, at least, your 
equal. I claim to be one of your judges. I am a citizen and a 
freeholder, and by right a freeman. I have an inheritance in 
Magna Charta, of which you have endeavored to rob me. It is 
to invade my castle, to harry my domains, and to lift my cattle 
that you have sallied out from your stronghold, like Border 
Knights. I like not your mission. I will defend myself, if I 
can. You have left me no choice but to treat you as my enemies. 
You are now by your own election in a position of exposure, 
where you cannot defend yourselves and where you are cut off 
by your own rash and fool-hardy zeal, from all hopes of retreat, 
and all possibility of relief. There is not a mesh in your whole 
web of sophistry which cannot be penetrated by the feeblest 
hand ; not a plate in your armor which may not be shivered at a 
blow. You invite me, as a citizen, to try its strength by the very 
recklessness of the assault, and the unwonted boldness of your 
defiance. Your challenge shall be met in such a way as will, 
perhaps, convince you that you have fallen into the common 
error of overrating your powers, or undervalueing the intelli- 
gence of those with whom you have to deal. It is an easy task 
to dispose of you. I cannot but make the best of the advantage 
which you have given me when you are thus aiming at my 
life. I shall cast a spear, therefore, for freedom which, by the 
blessing of God, will find its way through your defensive cover- 
ing, were it ten-fold thicker than it is. 

You take up the case as it made its appearance here. It 
has an earlier history, which seemed to foreshadow its disastrous 
close, and will, perhaps, shed some light upon it. Bear with me 
then, while I recall the facts connected with its origin. 

Your alternative mandamus was issued without notice. It 
came into the world, "limbed and full grown." Nobody here 
was advised of its advent, or invited to be present at its birth. 
The practice has always been, the world over, to grant a rule 
to shozv cause, in the first instance. It was not a case, certainly, 
to authorize the first known deviation from that rule. You 
were asked, I believe, to quash it on that ground. You refused 
upon the footing of an alleged rule, which was never written, 
had never found its way into the Law Books, and was entirely 
unknown to the profession here. 

It was issued outside the proper District, and in a case 
wherein you had already solemnly declared, that you would 
quash on motion. 9 Harr. 19. You were asked to do so, and 
you refused. 



336 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

It was issued in a case wherein you had held, on no less 
tlfan two or three several occasions, that it would not lie. (16 
S. and R. 317. 2 W. and S. 416. 2 Penna. R. 518.) You were 
asked again to quash it for this reason, and you refused. 

It was issued in a case where the Law had already provided 
a specific, and exclusive remedy. (Act of 15 Apr. 1834.) For 
this reason you were again asked to quash it, and again refused. 

It did not allege that the Relator had no other remedy, and 
did not even aver the subscription which you have passed upon. 
For this reason you were asked to quash it again. 

To this it was replied that the objection could only be taken 
by demurrer, and you over-ruled the objection, and decided that 
a demurrer would be the proper answer to a writ! 

The defendants then offered a demurrer in connection with 
their answer. To this it was objected that a demurrer would 
not lie: — and you so decided on the objection ! 

You were then asked by the Relator to allow him to amend 
his writ. To this the defendants objected that the writ must 
follow the suggestion, and that must be verified by oath. You 
allowed him to amend, however, and to supply two of the most 
material averments in his case, on his own motion, and zvithout 
any oath zvhatever! 

He then demanded a Peremptory Mandamus, instanter, on the 
ground that all the Commissioners had not joined in the return, 
and in the urgent tone of one who was not accustomed to be 
refused, and who seemed to think that he was entitled to have 
whatever he might choose to ask for. You refused the applica- 
tion for an immediate argument on this motion, but you refused 
it only on the ground, that although the writ might issue at Har- 
risburg, the case ought to be heard at least in the proper Dis- 
trict; and it was on that motion that it came up for argument 
here. 

The only notice, then, was of a motion for a judgment by 
default, for want of a return. In that state of the Record none 
other could be legitimately made or heard— as the case stood on 
pleas which were unanswered. To meet that question, and 
none other, the defendants appeared before you. The plaintiff 
came, but the object of his mission was changed, by the abandon- 
ment of the ground on which the cause had been set down for 
argument. On this exhibition and objection made, you were 
obliged to admit that the motion could not be entertained. It was 
your duty then to dismiss the cause, because there was no issue, 
and no question, therefore, properly before you. Yoii would 
have done so in any other case, as is known to be your invaria- 
ble practice. You were asked to do so here, and you refused. 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 337 

You were then asked to compel the Relator to demur, if he 
insisted on an argument. You refused this also. You chose, 
on consultation, to consider him as having done that which was 
regarded as too perilous by himself. This you had no right to 
do without the consent of the parties, unless you were authorized 
to dispense with the rules of pleading, and the statute itself. 
If you were so authorized, it was the right of the defendants 
to claim a reasonable indulgence. You compelled them to go 
on without notice of an issue. You declined to say whether 
any argument would be expected on the Constitutional question. 
You offered no extension, although its necessity was intimated, 
and to the astonishment of the whole bar, without an issue upon 
the Record, you passed upon the greatest question that was ever 
before you, in a way in which you have never before ventured 
to pass even upon the smallest. In so doing, moreover, while you 
dispensed with all observance of forms on the part of the 
Relator, and even aided him with a demurrer, you subjected the 
answer of the defendants, zvithout notice of formal exceptions, 
to the minutest of verbal criticisms, and absolutely overruled 
their pleas upon objections which were precluded by the very 
issue which you had made for them ! It is the first instance, I 
suppose, where a Court has undertaken to demur for a suitor, 
and the first, certainly, where they have refused to compel him 
to answer in any way, at the instance of the adverse party, and 
then supplied his default by entering a judgment in his favor 
upon grounds like these ! When you admit, as you now do, that 
a demurrer was necessary under the provisions of the Act, and 
in order "to preserve the symmetry of the Record," you decide 
that your judgment was unauthorized, and that it deserves to 
be treated as a nullity. 

I note these matters only by way of preface. Incredible as 
they may appear, I think they are fairly stated. I intend you 
no injustice. Though you may forget yourselves, I see nothing 
in your example to provoke me to imitate it. I would "rather 
extenuate than set down aught in malice." If they are strongly 
stated, it is because the rights involved are the very highest 
which we enjoy, as they are essential to the preservation of all 
that are still left to us. It is the Great Charter of our liberties 
that is at stake. In such a crisis it becomes the freeman to 
speak out in such a way as not to be misunderstood. That which 
it would be treason to rob us of, and a worse treason, if possible, 
to surrender, cannot be too strongly defended. 

I now proceed to inquire upon what grounds you have 
undertaken to deprive us of these rights and how far the act is 
to be excused by the reasons which you have offered in support 



338 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

of it. It will turn out, I think, that like your conclusion itself, 
they are precisely such as might have been expected from such 
a preparation. If there be a single one of them which will pass 
the ordeal of a fair and liberal criticism I have greatly under- 
rated them. If there be one redeeming feature in your whole 
opinion — one single material point on which any tolerably 
respectable lawyer in America would be willing to peril his 
reputation as either a jurist or a pleader, it has more merit than 
a careful study, with all the powers of analysis which I have 
been able to bring to its examination, has enabled me to dis- 
cover. I pledge myself to satisfy even the unlearned that you 
have justly forfeited the public confidence, and wrecked the 
whole venture of your professional wealth on that disastrous 
opinion. 

You begin by stating the case as described in the writ which 
refers, inter alia, to a subscription of $300,000, and then say, 
"such is the Relator's case," and as such "it is an appropriate 
one for a Mandamus." This is summary and oracular. Allow 
me to say, however, that it is not his case at all, as sn'orn to, 
but his case only as amended on the suggestion of counsel, 
which never before was treated as a legitimate portion of the 
plaintiff's case in a proceeding by Mandamus. The averment 
of a subscription of $300,000, came in after answer, and without 
oath. It was not, of course, the case upon which the County 
was brought in, or the Court was authorized to pass. 

But why is it an appropriate case for a mandamus? 
Admitting it to be his ozvn, and not substantially yours, the 
answer is — "because the Relator does not ask for judgment, but 
merely that the proper officers may be compelled to provide 
means for paying the interest." Are you serious, or do you 
intend to trifle with us, as though we were children? Is it 
possible that a grave tribunal like yours would condescend to 
borrow a quibble from an ingenious advocate, to parry the force 
of the objection, drawn from your own repeated decisions, that 
the party who asks for a Mandamus must obtain a judgment in 
the first place? Do you expect to satisfy anybody by such a 
mere evasion as this? Do you wish it understood — as you must 
decide, if you are consistent — that the relator is not to be paid 
out of these moneys when collected, without first establishing 
his right? If you do, it may turn out that he has no right at all, 
and you will then have enacted the folly of compelling a levy 
where there is perhaps no debt, and that, too, at the instance of 
a man who has no title, in a proceeding, where the title must 
in all cases be an unquestionable one ! If you do not wish to be 
so understood, it is then the case of an execution without a 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 339 

judgment. Here, then, is a dilemma. Which horn of it will 
you take ? The Relator's counsel were impaled on the former in 
the presence of the whole bar. Will you take the latter, maugre 
your own repeated decisions to the contrary, which you had not 
the candor to notice, or the courage to overrule ? If you will, 
every other creditor will soon become as modest, and as reason- 
able, and as wise as the Bondholders, and be ready to swear 
that he wants no judgment, but will be satisfied with the money. 
The era of temporal judgments will, of course, have an end 
when nobody wants them. The high prerogative writ of man- 
damus will become the writ of writs. A perfect fusillade of 
them will soon be rattling over our heads, and you may locate 
forthwith at the metropolis, and look for a flood of importunate 
creditors, who will borrow the aid of Philadelphia lawyers by 
the same argument, and with the same success, to help them to 
the money of our people, and relieve them of the burthensome 
process of bringing their claims before a Pittsburgh Jury. 

It is not denied by you that to give this jurisdiction the case 
must be one where the party has no specific remedy. You say, 
"it is obvious there is no other adequate legal remedy" here, 
because, first, our Acts of Assembly impose no penalty for 
refusing to provide for a County debt, and if they did, the 
mandamus would lie at any rate; because, secondly, the holder 
would be obliged to sue every six months, and there being so 
many of them, it would be expensive to the County, and the 
remedy would, therefore, be so inadequate, that the law must 
furnish something better, even if immediate payment were the 
object; and, because, thirdly, the object is not payment, but only 
to put the Commissioners in motion, to execute the duty of pro- 
viding for these debts. 

The -first of these reasons is admitted by you to be no reason 
at all, and will, therefore, require no answer. 

The second is a novelty, and if it amounts to anything, 
would make the remedy a proper one, in every case where the 
instalments were numerous, unless it is admitted — as seems to 
be taken for granted — that these Bondholders are a privileged 
class, and that what is law for other people is not so for them. 
The expense to the County, is, however, a consideration with 
which neither you nor the Bondholders have anything to do. 
When the people, themselves, think proper to complain, it will 
be time enough for such gratuitous exhibitions of tenderness. 
They mistrust them when they come from those whose interests 
in their Treasury are only prompted, apparently, by a regard for 
the individuals who have claims upon it. To say that the remedy 
would be inadequate on this account is simply preposterous. But 



340 



THOMAS WILLIAMS 



the idea that for this, or any other reason, "the law must furnish 
something better" to the private suitor, is a starthng one. It 
means nothing less than that the Courts themselves shall do it, 
vi^herever the Legislature has not made every thing as complete, 
and summary, and expeditious, as their impatience would 
demand. And it declares a principle, which has been more than 
once, solemnly repudiated, in the opinion that to authorize the 
writ, it is not sufficient that the remedy is a tedious one. 

The third of these reasons is but a new presentation of the 
argument that the Relator does not want a judgment. The 
question has been already asked, whether it was intended that 
he should be paid out of the moneys which are to be collected. 
It is here answered that it is not payment, but movement — the act 
of getting ready — for which there is no adequate remedy, and 
which, therefore, must be met by a mandamus. Well, this is a 
desideratum, indeed. It is a very common failing amongst the 
debtor class to fall into sluggish habits, and if any means 
can be devised for quickening them into activity, even before 
their debts are due, it would doubtless be a good thing, and might 
possibly have the effect of making a speedy end of the whole 
credit system itself. If, for instance, the farmer could be com- 
pelled to put in a double crop, the mechanic to get up a little 
earlier, and work a little later, and the laboring man to hoard his 
gains instead of spending them, we might come to realize, by and 
by, the very Utopia, of which the Chief Justice so learnedly dis- 
courses. In this view, therefore, the mandamus would no doubt 
prove a very admirable and convenient expedient for the benefit 
of the Philadelphia merchant, as well as of the Philadelphia 
lawyer. Its effect, however, would be only a moral one. The 
parties who are disclaiming, through you, all idea of payment, 
must rest satisfied, of course, with an active demonstration of 
the Commissioners in the required direction, and the Judges of 
the Supreme Court, without Legislative powers, and with no 
other mission than that proclaimed in the opinion of the Chief 
Justice — to set the hearts of the people right — will be no more 
than so many itinerant preachers, crying, like John the Baptist 
in the wilderness, "prepare ye the way." The sum of the argu- 
ment is in the first utterance of the prophet. It is preparation in 
the one case, and motion towards provision in the other. 

Having thus demonstrated, as you suppose, in this summary 
way, and by the species of argument which has just been exam- 
ined, your postulate that "it is obvious that there is no other 
adequate legal remedy" in the present case, you then proceed 
to discuss the history of the writ, and to show its application, 
in many instances, to compel the performance of ministerial 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 34I 

duties by Corporation Officers. It is a singular fact, however, 
and one which will be remembered to your disadvantage, because 
it was impossible that it could have occurred without intending 
it, that you should have entirely overlooked the double objection, 
that there was a remedy already provided by law for the enforce- 
ment of all claims which might be recovered against a county — 
not merely adequate, but absolutely exclusive in its nature — and 
that you had already, more than once, absolutely refused to 
allow a writ of mandamus against the Commissioners, on the 
well-settled ground, that it was not the appropriate remedy. 
You were perfectly well advised that by the 6th Section of the 
Act of 15 Apr. 1834, it was provided that "if judgment should 
be obtained against a County in any action or proceeding, the 
party entitled to the benefit of such judgment, may have execu- 
tion thereof, as follozvs and not otherwise." I need not recite the 
process. You know what it is. You know too, that it has more 
than once been decided by you, that the remedy was an exclusive 
one. You know further, that on two or three several occasions, 
you had solemnly adjudged that a mandamus would not lie 
against the Commissioners of a County — if it will now lie at all — 
without a judgment, and that too, even without reference to the 
question, whether the claim was disputed or not. All these things 
you knew, and were bound to know. And yet you have ignored 
them — Acts of Assembly and all — while you go to England 
for authority to show that mandamus was once a Legislative 
power, by way of hint, I suppose, that you may use it in the 
same way yourselves. 

And now, allow me to inquire, what was your object, and 
what apology have you to offer for this omission ? You do not 
and dare not meet the question upon these two objections. You 
cannot repeal the Act of Assembly. You do not feel prepared 
to overrule, in terms, the decisions which your predecessors have 
made. You endeavor, however, to escape from the effect of both, 
by the twice-repeated, and duly emphasized suggestion that the 
Relator does not want a judgment. You have not ventured to 
explain to the people the mystery that lies under that cabalistic 
word. You did not care to bring the act and your decisions 
into view, and then encounter the risk of presenting the argu- 
ment on which you have ventured to nullify them both. You 
feared — and justly, too — that they would not appreciate the 
Philadelphia distinction between wanting a judgment and want- 
ing only the money. You knew that the masculine good sense 
of the people of this State, would laugh to scorn — as did the 
whole Pittsburgh Bar — the miserable juggle, which was only 
worthy of the casuistry of a Bellarmine. 



342 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

Let me examine, then, the effect of your argument in the 
]ight of the statute, and authorities, which you have so studi- 
ously overlooked. The act provides for the case of a judgment 
against a county. The authorities declared that a mandamus 
could not issue without a jiidginent, and that the judgment must 
be obtained in the usual way. To obtain that, the suit must be 
against the County, and not against the Commissioners. The 
proceeding here is against the Commissioners. So it was, too, 
in the cases where you refused to interfere, and directed the 
parties to establish their claims, in the first place, against the 
County. The argument now is that the Commissioners are 
required by the Act which authorized the subscription, "to pro- 
vide for the payment of the moneys, and the interest, as in 
other cases of loans to the county," and that this is a duty which 
an action at law cannot enforce. 

It is not true, however, that the Act contains any such pro- 
vision for the case presented by the Relator, although it is 
assumed by you throughout, without the least apparent regard 
to its actual provisions. The Commissioners were authorized 
either to "borrow the money" upon their Bonds, or hand them 
over to the Company in payment of the subscription ; and it was 
only in the former case, or "for the moneys so borrowed," that 
they were thus authorized or required to provide. The Bonds 
were handed over to the Company, without borrowing any 
moYiey on them at all. Had it been otherwise, however, that 
provision could make no difference. The obligation and duty 
would have been precisely the same without it, and the remedy 
the same as in all other cases of loans. It is by force of this 
special provision, however, which does not apply to the case 
at all, and which does not, moreover, vary the duties of the 
Commissioners, even if it did, that you have undertaken to 
distinguish this claim with marks of such special favor as to 
exert in its behalf an extraordinary power, which you would 
not venture to apply to ordinary cases. 

Supposing, however, that there had been an express pro- 
vision for the particular case, and the duty prescribed were a 
mere ministerial one, it w^as, at the most, to make provision for 
the payment of a debt. It is idle to pretend that the object 
sought here was any other than this. The obligation to provide 
could not, however, arise, except upon the footing of a debt 
ascertained, or admitted by the County. The Mandamus itself 
cannot issue in any case, except upon the basis of a title which 
is clear and undisputed. If, therefore, the application to the 
Court in any of the cases already passed upon had been in terms 
to direct only a levy of the money under the express provisions 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 343 

of the law, it must have been equally disallowed, upon objection 
made. It was quite as important, on principle, that a judgment 
should precede the Mandamus in one case, as in the other, and 
if there be any warrant for the intervention of the Court in the 
special authority to provide, it could take place even then, only 
after the dispute was settled. It is idle, therefore, and worse 
than idle, to attempt to rest this case upon the empty and 
frivolous distinction between the demand of a judgment, and the 
performance of a ministerial duty to levy the money, which 
amounts to a substantial execution, and which nothing short of 
an antecedent judgment, could ever have warranted, even sup- 
posing it to be no more than you pretend. To attempt the 
levy in this way betrays an open and palpable disregard of the 
whole spirit of the Act of Assembly, as well as the repeated 
decisions which have been already cited — so flagrant, I think, 
that you must excuse me for doubting whether you have been 
able to satisfy any professional mind that there was a convert 
amongst you even to your own argument. 

Having thus shown, as I think upon authority and reasons, 
which you have studiously ignored, that it is "abundantly appar- 
ent" — to use your own phraseology — that the case presented by 
the Relator was anything but "a fit one for a Mandamus," and 
that, if it were even proper at any time, the distinction attempted 
by you between a demand for judgment, and for the perform- 
ance of the duty of making provision only, would make your case 
no better, I now proceed to examine your reasons for holding 
the Return of the Commissioners to be defective. 

Your first remark "on looking into the Return" is that there 
is no denial of the execution or of the delivery of the Bonds in 
question, and so far, therefore, as ''execution and delivery" can 
bind the county, she is unquestionably bound. This is all true, 
although it might have been, perhaps, expected that a Bench of 
Learned Judges, when about to venture upon a task of verbal 
criticism, should speak with some little precision themselves. 
To say, as you do on two or three several occasions, and with 
the fullest emphasis, that a Bond is not merely executed, but 
actually delivered will be considered as something of a pleonasm, 
by the unlearned, when they are informed that the sealing and 
delivery are the execution, and that the term, of course, always 
imports both of them. 

Your next observation is that a reasonable degree of cer- 
tainty, which you declare to mean "that which upon a fair and 
reasonable construction may be called certain, without recurring 
to possible facts that do not appear," is always required, and 
that every allegation must be "direct and unqualified, and stated, 



344 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

not inferentially or argumentatively, but with certainty and 
plainness." And you think that under the appHcation of this 
test "it will be found upon analysis, that the Return made here is 
defective in many particulars." 

I shall not quarrel with your rules, although it must be 
obvious to every tolerable lawyer, that since the statute has made 
the Return traversable, the reason which required so high a 
degree of certainty has ceased to exist, and with it, of course, 
the whole stringency of the rule itself. I will admit, if you 
choose, that they are well enough, if there had been any case 
before you to which they could be applied. I desire no more 
than the privilege of following you in your "analysis" and dem- 
onstrating, as I think I can, that it was not the words, but the 
substance, that created the difficulty, and that no manner of 
pleading could have been made to suit you. 

The first plea, as you are pleased to call it, was that Ihe 
Grand Jury did not recommend a subscription of any given 
amount — that if any valid subscription was made, a single Bond 
was issued therefor in the sum of $300,000, — and that the several 
Bonds recited in the writ, if issued at all, were issued without 
authority of law, and not in payment of the supposed subscrip- 
tion of $300,000. 

The first objection made by you to this plea is, that it is 
irrelevant, for the reason that the Grand Jury was not required 
to designate the amount. This, of course, is no question of 
merely formal pleading, but of the construction of the Act of 
Assembly only, which you undertake to settle by very adroitly 
begging the question in dispute. The Act authorizes the Com- 
missioners to subscribe "an amount not exceeding ten thousand 
shares, on the recommendation of one Grand Jury." It is 
admitted that the Jury fixed no sum, and, this you say, is no 
objection, because the law did not impose that duty on them, as 
it did expressly in the Mercer county case, which was referred 
to in the argument; but only required "their approbation of the 
subscription contemplated by the Act." You assume, as a matter 
of course, that the law did not impose that duty, and assign no 
other reason than the "approbation" and contemplation, which 
have been just recited. If this was your reason, allow me to say 
that you are greatly mistaken. The Act, itself, would have 
informed you, if you had chosen to take its language, instead of 
substituting your own, and, thereby altering the law, that the 
Grand Jury were to take the initiative, and that their duty was 
not to approve, but to recommend. But this is not all. If it was 
their function only to approve "the subscription contemplated by 
the Act," you have failed to advise us what the amount of that 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 345 

subscription was. The Act authorized the subscription of "an 
amount" not exceeding a given sum, "on the recommendation of 
one Grand Jury." It was to be a specific sum on recommenda- 
tion. What sort of recommendation is that which names no sum 
at all ? What is the reasonable construction then ? What would 
any unlearned man — what would any lawyer, who looked to the 
extraordinary nature of the power and the importance to the 
security of the citizen of confining this discretion to the Grand 
Jury alone — say to this ? What has not your own Court already 
said in the Mercer County case upon this very point? The Act 
there contained the same language precisely, as in the present 
case — although it is admitted to have been a little fuller, though 
without any substantial difference. There was not a solitary 
reason, however, assigned for the construction there given, 
which does not apply equally here. And what is the answer 
which you now make ? Nothing but that the law does not impose 
the duty, because it does not impose the duty! and that, too, 
backed by your own substitution of the word approve for "rec- 
ommend." Do you expect to secure the public confidence by 
such logic as this? Other men are required to give reasons for 
the faith that is in them. Lawyers would fail in business if they 
could not. It is sometimes the privilege of Judges to pro- 
nounce oracularly and conclusively, without any reason at all, 
and even to silence those whom they would not be able to 
answer. 

You say further, in reply to the objection, that the Bonds 
sued on were not issued in payment of the subscription, but by 
way of substitution only, that "if duplicate securities were agreed 
on between the parties, and made, this would not impair the 
obligation of either of these securities." Allow me to say again 
that you talk loosely for critics. Who spoke of duplicate secur- 
ities? The defendants had said nothing about them. The 
securities referred to were not duplicates, and I would not do 
your understandings the injustice of supposing that you do not 
know, what any merchant could have told you. They were not 
even outstanding at the same time. It was a case of substitution, 
by officers enjoying only a limited power, of one security for 
another, after their powers had been duly exercised, and were, 
of course, exhausted. It is no answer now, however ingenious 
it may be, to misname the transaction, and thus evade a question 
of the highest importance, which was worthy of the gravest 
argument, and was not to be disposed of in such a way as this. 

You say, however, that if the Commissioners intended to 
tender an issue on the question of authority, they should have 
met it by a direct denial, and not hy pathetically, as you suppose 



346 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

them to have done, merely because they say — with no more than 
the usual precaution — that, if issued at all, it was without author- 
ity of law, and not in payment of the supposed subscription. 
You add, moreover, that there is no fact charged here so as to 
be capable of investigation on an issue. You object that this is 
only charging them to be unlawful, // they were issued, which 
you declare to be a mode of pleading much below the rule of 
certainty which the law requires; and for these, in addition to 
the reasons already suggested, you adjudge the plea to be insuf- 
ficient ! 

You are hard to please — fastidious without being consistent. 
You find nothing to disturb you in a suggestion and a writ, which 
were both confessedly defective, and that too, in matter of sub- 
stance. You are lax to a fault, when the errors of the Relator are 
in question. You do not balk at a hypothetical demurrer, of your 
own imagining. One would suppose that a hypothetical plea was 
at least as good, even though it was not of your own making. 
When you come to it, however, you stiffen at once into all the rig- 
ors of formalism, as though the chill of an Arctic night had settled 
down upon you. Forgetting, as you do, in your anxiety to find 
fault, or not knowing perhaps, from ignorance of the rules of 
pleading, that the door to such inquiries had been absolutely 
closed by yourself, you light a candle, like the woman in the 
parable, who had lost a penny, and sweep the house, and peer 
diligently into every nook and corner, until you think you have 
found it, and then exclaim, "rejoice with me!" You find noth- 
ing right. There is nothing precise enough to suit your tastes. 
The idea of a doubt in regard to the issue of the Bonds, is unpar- 
donable. The denial that they were issued by authority, or in 
payment of the subscription, is no denial at all ! There is noth- 
ing to try. There is nothing which you can see under the dis- 
astrous twilight, through which the forms of voiceless thought 
are flittmg, like disembodied phantoms through the Halls of 
Erebus. The deepening gloom oppresses you. There is a dread 
uncertainty which shakes your nerves. The plea is much below 
the grade of certainty which the law requires ! 

All this is passing strange — so strange that it would have 
been incredible if our own eyes had not seen it — so amazing, that 
one scarcely knows whether to laugh at its absurdity and affec- 
tation, or be indignant at the ignorance which it displays, and 
the injustice which it inflicts. There is nothing like it in the 
jurisprudence of this, or any other State in America. It has 
never been the practice of your Court to entertain objections so 
frivolous. To hunt them out yourselves, of your own motion — 
without a prompter, and upon a general demurrer — and to rule an 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 347 

important case upon them, and that, too, for the purpose of 
deprivmg the people of the benefit of the Jury trial, is something 
that transcends everything that has come down to us in the way 
of example in England, since the era of the Stuarts. It was not 
necessary to add to it by endeavoring to shift the odium upon the 
shoulders of a stubborn advocate, and thus endeavoring to crip- 
ple his power of effective resistance to tyranny. There is no 
lawyer at the Bar who would have thought it worth while to 
defend a case before you on such grounds as these. You would 
have scouted the defence, and perhaps rebuked the counsel who 
made it. Your invariable policy has been to discourage writs of 
Error upon exceptions that are merely formal. The largest part 
by far of all your decisions will be found, if I mistake not, to 
turn on that principle. You have carried it so far that special 
pleading has ceased to be a science in this State. The severity 
of the ancient logic has disappeared under the levelling process 
which has overthrown the distinction between the learned and 
the ignorant, and now, by a retribution which is poetically just, 
its very rules have been forgotten by yourselves, and the fruits 
of its discipline have almost ceased to grace the opinions of the 
Courts. If you had not forgotten these rules, you could not have 
blundered into a violation of Magna Charta, by mistaking the 
application of them. If you had imbibed their spirit, which is 
the spirit of true liberty, I am very sure that the style and tem- 
per of your opinion, as well as its logic, would have been entirely 
different. 

If you have already, however, furnished occasion for sur- 
prise to professional men, there is matter here which must exalt 
that feeling into absolute amazement. Your objection is to the 
hypothetical case of the execution of the Bonds. That, however, 
was not the question. No issue was tendered on that point, 
because none was intended. If the fact was put hypothetically, 
it was no more than a protestation, where the defendants were 
ignorant, and all that could be said of it, would have been that 
it was not good as a plea of non est factum. It was no more 
indeed than is always implied, where such a plea is followed by 
that of payment, or any other in confession and avoidance. The 
Commissioners did, however, tender an issue upon the points of 
authority and payment, which were the only questions, by a 
denial as direct and explicit, as you or anybody else could make 
it, and it is passing strange that you should not have been able 
to see it. If you could not, that was perhaps your misfortune, 
but certainly not the fault of the pleader. He did not educate 
you, and is not of course responsible for your infirmities. 

If this plea had, however, been defective in the particular to 



348 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

which you refer — which has been doubted in England, and is, 
I am confident, supported by no authority here — there is another 
answer, already hinted at, which ought to overwhelm you. The 
unlearned will think it strange that upon a writ of Mandamus 
issued to the Commissioners of a county, and in a State where 
the niceties of special pleading have been always disregarded, 
you should have thrown yourselves upon the merest quibble in a 
case of such magnitude as this, as a reason for depriving a whole 
people of their Constitutional right of trial by Jury. But what 
will they say when they are informed that the objection upon 
which you have overruled this, and other important pleas, and 
entered a judgment against them, even if well founded, was 
merely a formal one which was amendable, if demurred to 
specially, and was absolutely waived and cured by general demur- 
rer? And yet the law is so beyond all controversy, and you 
cannot, and dare not deny it. There is no lawyer in the United 
States who would venture to assert the contrary. If you did not 
know it yourselves, what is to be thought of you, who speak so 
authoritatively, as pleaders or Judges? If you did, how are you 
to answer to the people for the unauthorized judgment which 
you have pronounced, and how is it to be treated by them ? 

After such an exhibition as this, however, you proceed very 
coolly to remark that "the second plea is still worse, because 
totally irrelevant." With your notions of pleading, as just 
exposed, it would be strange, indeed, if that or any other should 
be considered a good one. If it is worse, however, than your 
previous argument, it will be no easy matter to defend it. 

The plea is that other Bonds to the amount of $200,000 
were subsequently issued upon a second subscription, without 
any evidence in the books of the county to show the subscription, 
or the issue, or the number and denomination of the Bonds. 

You ask the question, very innocently, what this plea was 
intended to answer — and then proceed to remark that "the 
Relator says nothing about this issue, and pretends to hold none 
of these Bonds, and that it is, of course, irrelevant and imperti- 
nent." 

As the case then stood, the plea was not claimed to be of any 
consequence. It furnishes occasion, however, to refer again to 
a curious proceeding in this cause, as well as to show how imper- 
fectly the state of the pleadings seems to have been understood 
by yourselves. 

The Relator had altogether omitted, in his suggestion, to 
individuate the subscription under which he claimed. He alleged, 
merely, that the Commissioners had subscribed an amount not 
exceeding 10,000 shares ($500,000). It was well understood 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 349 

that there were two subscriptions. The second was considered 
to be void at all events, and it was to meet any claim upon that 
subscription, and to compel the Relator to particularize, that this 
plea was obviously interposed. It produced the desired effect. 
The Relator asked leave to amend, by specifying the first sub- 
scription, and he was allowed to do so in that, and one other 
material point, without oath, notwithstanding the unanswerable 
objection, that a writ of mandamus could stand on no other 
foundation than the oath of the party. It was a new feature, 
therefore, in the present cause, and only one of many which are 
equally remarkable, that this extreme, and extraordinary remedy 
was granted— just as an important portion of the defence was 
''explained" away— upon the merely verbal suggestion of the 
Relator's counsel! If you had adverted to the amendment 
allowed by yourselves, you would have understood the plea, and 
might have spared the remark that the Relator says nothing 
about this issue, and does not claim under it, as well as the 
somewhat ill-natured blunder that it was either "irrelevant or 
impertinent." It was not so considered by the Relator's counsel, 
when It drove him to his amendment. If it became so afterward, 
it was only because you allowed to him what you have denied to 
us— the privilege of amending at his pleasure. You refused to 
quash his writ tor errors of substance. You pronounced an 
absolute judgment against the people, for alleged errors of 
form, which are developed only by the miscroscope. 

The next point you examine is that relating to the alleged 
violation of the express condition of the Act of Assembly that 
the Bonds should not be sold below par. This, you think, is the 
"most important portion of the return," and here you are 
graciously pleased to say that "matters are pleaded with tolera-^ 
ble certainty, which suggest questions of the grandest import 
For this mark of condescension, even small as it is, we are all 
bound to be duly thankful, for the reason that it brings you into 
the field in the way of argument, upon at least one question in 
the cause, and enables us to form a tolerable conjecture as to the 
way in which you would have acquitted yourselves in regard to 
the residue. . ,, ,„ 

Instead, however, of coming up to this grand question 
directly and boldly, you sit down before it, like a cunning engi- 
neer wasting a whole column of a newspaper upon Acts ot 
Assembly, resolutions of Commissioners, Legislative powers 
County organizations, and pious homilies on repudiation all of 
which are entirely irrelevant, and all seemingly intended for the 
double purpose of apologizing for a conclusion which is fore- 
shadowed, and yet felt not to be exactly right, and of f nghtenmg 



350 



THOMAS WILLIAMS 



the garrison into terms of capitulation by the blended terrors of 
divine and human law. You come up to the walls at last, how- 
ever, with this declaration: 

"The condition prescribed by the Act of i8s3 was a rule to the 
Railroad Company. They were not to dispose of the County bonds 
at less than par, and the County might have restrained them by 
injunction from doing so, as several counties have lately done. But 
she stood by in silence and suffered them to be disposed of without 
notice to the public, remonstrance to the Company, or appeal to the 
Courts. 

"Under these circumstances, the question arises, is she bound to 
provide for the interest? We unhesitatingly answer. Yes, she is." 

This end is curt and positive. It assumes that the county- 
stood by in silence, and suffered them to be disposed of without 
notice to the public, remonstrance to the Company, or appeal to 
the Courts. The answer is an easy one. Out of your own 
mouths shall it be given. You say, yourselves, in a subsequent 
paragraph, that "every holder and receiver had notice of the 
condition, upon the very face of the Bonds, and all brokers and 
their customers were bound by it." It is clear, therefore, upon 
your own admission, that they were not disposed of without 
notice. If they were not, however, then it was impossible for the 
county to have done the thing which you suppose, or in other 
words, to have allowed them to be disposed of without notice. 

Perhaps, however, you will say that it was not the want of 
notice, which you intended, but the fact that the county "stood 
by in silence," zvith notice. If this was your meaning, you should 
have said it, even though it weakened your case, and ought to 
have met the point, as you very unsuccessfully undertake to do 
afterwards, by your very original and curious illustration of 
the case of the father, who loans his son a paper not negotiable, 
but stipulating on the face of it that it should not be sold below 
par, and then stands by, and sees him selling it at a discount, 
without objection. If you had, however, where is the evidence of 
the fact which you assert? How do you know that the county 
was aware of it? Is it by the same means through which you 
learned that the moneys sworn to have been corruptly paid to 
the Commissioners, were expended in clerical services? Has the 
Relator's counsel told you so? How was the county to be 
advised, and who advised it? How could it stand by? Who is 
the County? If it be the Commissioners, it is not even asserted 
that they knew it. But it is not the Commissioners. The 
county is a local government — a purely artificial being. It repre- 
sents a community of nearly 200,000 souls. How is it to be 
affected by laches f No time will bar its right even to a highway. 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 35 1 

and how is the mere silence of its Commissioners, even though 
they had knowledge — of which there is no evidence and no pre- 
sumption here — to affect the people ? Why is it that the people 
are to be concluded by ignorance, while even notice is not 
allowed to affect a Bondholder f Is it fair or just? Is it either 
Law or Equity that the people shall be concluded thus? 
Where do you find authority for any such principle? You can- 
not show it. Even in the case put by you, of the father standing 
by, and allowing the son to sell his note at a discount, there is 
no principle of equity upon which mere silence would estop him. 
You think he is a bold lawyer who would deny it. I think he 
is a bolder one who would affirm it. Where was it ever held that 
the obligor in a bond was bound to follow it in the hands of the 
holder, and to give notice of a condition, which was written on 
its face ? Where has it been ever held that he was bound to give 
notice even of a secret equity ? The law is precisely the other 
zvay, and you know it, or ought to know it. It imposes no duty 
on the obligor, in either of these cases. He is under no obliga- 
tion to ask for an injunction. The rule is caveat emptor. It is 
the business of the buyer to look out. The position of the debtor 
is a purely defensive one. Remonstrance to the Company, if 
he knew it, would not help him, and it is perfectly clear that 
without notice in advance, even an injunction itself, if he is to 
be put to the expense of it, could be of no possible service what- 
ever. It is clear, therefore, as light, that under the actual cir- 
cumstances which were before you, to the question whether the 
county is bound to provide for the interest, you were bound on 
principle and authority which are above dispute, and by every 
obligation which can affect the conscience of a Judge, to answer 
— not as you have answered, imperiously and unhesitatingly, 
"Yes ! she is," but solemnly, and unhesitatingly "No ! she is not." 
That is the language of the lazv. It may not be yours, but you 
must speak its voice, and not your own. You are but its 
exponent and not its maker. You are held in its chains. It is 
your master as well as ours. You cannot change it, for that 
would make you the Law giver. The Common Law is an essen- 
tial part of our liberties. If you can make it proclaim your will, 
we are no longer free. If you can tax us to pay these Bonds, 
not because we owe them, but because you have mistakenly 
endorsed them, and think, therefore, that you are bound to see 
them paid — and can take away the right of trial by Jury, upon 
the most frivolous of pretences, and in utter disregard of all 
principle and authority, in order to facilitate the collection, and 
obviate the difficulties of a recovery, there is nothing to be added 
to your powers. Our lives and liberties are protected only by 



352 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

the same bulwarks which surround our freeholds. If you can 
seize the one, you may as readily make yourselves masters of 
the other. 

Upon the answer thus made, however, you proceed at once to 
declare that the Commissioners are bound to do what the Relator 
asks, and to express the hope that they will obey your mandate, 
without even waiting to inquire into the other and very serious 
grounds of defence, which remained to be examined. It looks 
as though you had made up your minds in advance, to make us 
pay at any rate — as the Bondholders confidently expected you to 
do — and were impatient to tell us so. What was the hurry? 
Why not dispose of the other objections in the first place? With 
such precipitancy, however, we might perhaps, as well have 
surrendered at this point. It could scarcely be expected after 
this, that you would find any serious obstacle in the residue. 

There was something, however, yet to be said, in order to 
reconcile the people to this great departure from the doctrines 
which had been previously settled. You are constrained to admit 
that if the allegations in this plea are "susceptible of proof" — 
which you had just however, denied us the privilege of showing 
— they would constitute "a possible ground for an equitable defal- 
cation." You speak with a caution which is truly admirable. 
When it is a question of our obligations, you bluster and 
threaten, and talk like a master. When of our rights, your voice 
subsides into a gentle whisper, as though you feared that the 
winds of Heaven might carry it to the ears of the Bondholders. 
There is no mistaking you, when you are teaching us our duties. 
They are all of perfect obligation, and the power of the Court is 
at hand to enforce them. When you come to our rights, you 
deal in enigmas. You are all caution and reserve. Your topics 
of consolation are ''possible grounds of equity," and "subjects 
for very serious consideration," and nothing more. Your 
language indicates, I think, that while you wished to reconcile 
us to the infliction, you did not intend to commit yourselves to 
anything that was likely to relieve us. It has been so read by 
the Bondholders and their organs, and they treat it accordingly 
as intended, for no other purpose, than as "a tub thrown out to 
the whale." If they have misunderstood you, it is not surpris- 
ing. Your readers here have given it the same construction. 

You admit that the provision, that the bonds should not be 
sold below par, was a wise one, and that ^ipon their very face, 
"the County pledged her faith on that condition and no other." 
You then put the case of the father above quoted — which, as 
already shown, is not our case — declaring in the first place, that 
he would be liable for the whole principal and interest, and then 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 353 

inquire very strangely, whether, if he went into equity, showing 
the violation of the condition, and offering to pay, or renew the 
paper for the amount actually received, a Chancellor would not 
hear him ! And you then, suggest as "a subject for very serious 
consideration," whether the County would not have the same 
rights in equity, if she can find the Bondholders, — as you think 
she can, by catching them at the receipt of custom, as they come 
up for the payment of their interest ! 

What an exhibition is here ! Allow me to say that the 
stream of your elocution runs muddy, and shows you to little 
advantage, as it frets and eddies, when it impinges against such 
obstacles as these. You think the father would be liable in 
equity for the whole, and then ask with great simplicity whether 
equity would not relieve him from a part! You suggest it as 
"a subject for very serious consideration," too, whether a county 
would not have the same rights as an individual! You are 
careful not to admit that she has, for the reason, perhaps, that it 
might involve an unpleasant reflection upon your opinion in the 
present case, wherein you have administered a law so different 
from that which has always been recognized, as between indi- 
viduals. You think too, with equal simplicity, that we may 
angle for the Bondholders by baiting with the interest, and 
catching them through a coupon, which is payable to bearer and 
passes by delivery, forgetting that while we are "bobbing for 
a whale," we are likely to catch only a minnow. The whole 
paragraph shows an apparent and a painful struggle to pull up 
your anchor, and get away from a principle, which frowns 
destruction upon the cause of the Bondholders. It would be 
hard to find one anywhere which involves so much awkward- 
ness and absurdity. It is, however, a perfectly natural result of 
such a struggle as this question has put you upon. You are 
drifting on a lee shore, and it behooves you, like an earlier com- 
mander of some note, to ply both "oar and sail," in order to 
escape the dangers which threaten you. 

Your reason for considering the provision in question a wise 
one, is that it was a becoming expression of confidence in the 
faith and ability of the county, and to repress those scandalous 
speculations of stock jobbers, which are the disgrace of our gen- 
eration, and have ruined many a meritorious enterprise. The 
reason is a new one, apparently to meet a new view of the ques- 
tion. The reason assigned by you in the Mercer county case, 
which was the sensible and the true one, but is now, of course, 
exploded with the case itself, was that a county might be induced 
to contribute a given sum upon the assurance that it would com- 
plete the road, if honestly realized from the Bonds, whereas the 



354 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

sale at a ruinous sacrifice, might leave the project unfinished, 
and result in total loss. In such case, the object would be 
defeated, and no equity would, of course, arise to entitle the pur- 
chaser to be repaid even the amount of his advances. This was 
obviously the doctrine of that case, and the only reason assigned 
for making no decree against the purchasers, was, that they were 
not made parties to the cause. The case of this county is pre- 
cisely the same. If these Bonds had been sold at their par value, 
the road would have been completed. As it is, it is unfinished 
and entirely worthless. 

But I come now to a point in this connection, to which you 
must allow me to request your especial attention, as well as that 
of the whole profession and people of this State. You play the 
role of critics. You profess to be practiced in the high mysteries 
of special pleading. You are so precise and prudish, and so 
severely punctilious, that nothing is certain enough, and 
nothing can be made to suit you. You venture to speak dis- 
paragingly of the performances of others, whose experience is 
larger, and whose professional rank is, at least, equal to your 
own, as though they were tyros in a branch of learning, in which 
you profess to be adepts. You presume on your merely official 
status to indulge in reflections which did not become you, and 
which you would have been slow to utter, and slower to vindi- 
cate, if you had been standing within the range even of an 
impromptu reply. I shall now test your own ability as pleaders, 
by an example, which will enable the public to judge of the value 
of your strictures, and may, perhaps, prove not unprofitable to 
yourselves. 

Allow me then, to whisper as gently as possible in your ears, 
that all your cautious suggestions, in regard to possible equities, 
on which you have turned the people of this county out of a 
Court of Law, and recommended a Court of conscience, — with 
yourselves, of course, as Chancellors — are founded on the gross- 
est and most inexcusable blunder, that was, perhaps, ever perpe- 
trated by a Bench of Judges, claiming to be learned in the law. 
You admit that the County pledged her faith "on the condition 
referred to, and no other — that this was the contract, and noth- 
ing else can be made of it." This was so plain that it could not 
be successfully denied. In so admitting, however, you condemn 
your own judgment, dash your whole case to the ground, and 
shiver it into fragments. If you had been even tolerably 
instructed pleaders, you would have seen at once, that it was a 
necessary consequence of this admission, that the defence set up 
zvas not an equitable, but a legal one! The condition was, you 
confess, a part of the contract. In a suit at law upon the Bond, 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 355 

it would have been, in strictness, the duty of the plaintiff, to 
set it out. If he did, the defendants might have pleaded the 
breach. If he did not, they might either have taken advantage 
of the variance, or craved oyer of the Bond, spread its condition 
upon the Record, and pleaded it in bar to the action. These 
things they might have done, in any Court of mere law, in this 
country or in England, and the Bond itself, must have fallen 
dead on that plea — unless the plaintiff himself, were allowed to 
set up the supposed equitable estoppel, in reply. This, however, 
it is clear, that he could not do in a Court of mere law. If there 
was any thing in the answer, he would be turned round, himself, 
to equity for relief. And thus, it will be seen at once, by every 
lawyer, who is at all familiar with the rules of pleading, that 
the relations of the parties were precisely the converse of what you 
have supposed them to be! If the father was bound, in the case 
put by you, it was in equity only — upon equitable considerations, 
and in the very face of the contract itself. If the county is 
bound, as supposed by you, it is only in the same manner — not 
upon her contract, but upon a silence, which has estopped her 
from taking advantage of it. It is not the people, then, thank 
God, who are to go on bended knees, to beg for equity in a 
Philadelphia Court, where there is no jury of the vicinage, and 
no mercy in reserve for them, but the Bondholders themselves ! 
The people have, happily, a complete defence at laiv, which can 
only be met — if it can be met at all — by an equitable 
estoppel as against them, and you are in the position 
not merely of having denied to them — what never before 
was refused in a Pennsylvania Court — the privilege of 
setting up a defence which you supposed to be equitable 
— but of having shut out a strictly legal defence, in favor 
of a party who was prosecuting a writ of mandamus — 
which lies only on a legal right — upon a strictly equitable claim ! 
What do you think of this, and what must you now think of 
yourselves, when thus taken in the pedagogic act of chastising 
an unlearned pleader, with the eyes of the whole profession and 
people upon you? Your possible equity turns out to be a legal 
right, and the favored suitor, for whose benefit we were ejected 
so summarily from a Court of law, no more than an equitable 
claimant, and a lawless squatter, without any authority to be 
there at all ! Is it not probable that a little less haste, and a fuller 
and a fairer hearing, would have enabled the defendant's counsel 
to instruct you in all these things, and thus saved you from the 
awkward blunder, and the still more awkward and unpleasant 
exposure, into which your unprompted zeal has hurried you. It 
will be now expected, of course, that you will avail yourselves of 



3^6 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

"the very first hour of your jiext term" to advise the people of 
this county, that it will not be necessary for them to go into 
equity, and that you have reserved that privilege for the Bond- 
holders. 

But supposing the defence to be — as you have erroneously 
taken it — an equitable one, why is it that you have refused to 
allow it to be set up at law? Is there any case in our books, 
wherein, under our mixed system of jurisprudence, where law 
and equity are administered in the same tribunal, such a right 
has ever been denied? If there be, I am not aware of it. Why, 
then, should such a rule be set up here? Why send the 
county of Allegheny over all creation to search out the holders 
of her securities? Is there one law for the Bondholders, and a 
different one for other people? Or is it because our great 
Constitutional bulwark of the trial by Jury will then be lost to 
us ? I will not, in all charity, suppose that such was your object, 
because it would involve a very serious attempt upon the liber- 
ties of the people. It is not to be doubted, however, that the 
purpose of the Bondholders themselves, in going before you, 
was to avoid that tribunal, and to deprive us of that right. 
And it is no more open to question that they have accomplished 
their object in the results at which you have arrived. It will 
not, however, serve them. You have exceeded your power in 
this particular, and must go back. You cannot stand where 
you are. 

But you say further in this connection, in answer to the 
objection, that if you compel the payment of interest, the prin- 
cipal must follow, that so long as the Commissioners leave the 
body of the securities outstanding and unquestioned, by declin- 
ing to proceed in Equity, they are incapable of making defence 
upon the incidents, and that even equity should not deal with 
sUch a defence, where the suit was only for interest. 

The question is your own. I propose to deal only with the 
answer. And this rests, of course, upon the mistaken hypothesis 
that the defence was an equitable one. If it were even so, how- 
ever, where has it been ever decided that the invalidity of a bond 
itself, was not a good defence against the payment of the 
interest ? The latter is admitted to be but the incident. It flows 
from the Bond. If the fountain is either exhausted or corrupt, 
what is to become of the stream itself? Is it to flow, and flow 
on altogether without taint? That is the effect of your argu- 
ment. And why is it that a Pennsylvania Court may not inquire 
whether there is any debt, when a claim is set up for the pay- 
ment of the interest ? This is too plain a question for a lawyer. 
The reason of a layman would revolt at the absurdity. You 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 35/ 

have not, however, condescended to show us, why it is that you 
suppose the law to be as you declare it. You offer no authority 
to support you. That, however, seems to make no difference 
with you. You have an answer of the same kind for every pos- 
sible objection. The ''sic volo, sic jubeo; stat pro ratione volun- 
tas," is expected to satisfy us. 

You next proceed to the fourth plea, or point of defence, in 
which the Commissioners say, that whether the Relator is a 
bonatide holder of any of said Bonds, they are not advised, and 
do therefore altogether deny, and insist that he may be held to 
the proof thereof. 

This you describe as a sort of conjectural interrogatory, in 
which the title is not exactly denied or admitted, and upon this 
you say that you cannot put the Relator to the proof, on so 
uncertain and equivocal a plea, because he alleges positively that 
he is the owner, and until it is positively denied, he cannot be 
required to prove his title. 

I know nothing in your extraordinary opinion that is more 
extraordinary than this. The defendants were but Commissioners, 
and trustees for the public. They had never even seen the Bonds 
recited in the writ. It was impossible for them, of course, to 
know or say whether the Relator was a bonafide holder or not. 
They could not swear that he was not, but they could declare 
their ignorance and deny thereon, and put the other party to the 
proof, in accordance with everyday practice in Courts of 
Equity. To ask him for the proof was no more than is expected 
of every suitor who prosecutes a claim, unless there be a rule of 
Court — as there was not here, and never is in cases of defend- 
ants, who are standing in a merely representative capacity — to 
excuse him, in the absence of any denial on oath. There is 
nothing conjectural, or interrogative, or uncertain, or equivocal 
in the plea. It was a flat denial, with only the necessary salve 
to the consciences of the Commissioners, conveyed in the asser- 
tion of their ignorance. Reason and justice would seem to 
require no more. The objections made are clearly without foun- 
dation in reason, as any man may see. If there was any author- 
ity to support them, you would of course have shown it. You 
decide, however, in the usual oracular way, that because the 
Relator has alleged positively that he is the owner, you are 
bound to take his word for it. This is like the argument of the 
Justice, that the Plaintiff would not have sued, or sworn to the 
existence of a debt, if it had not been actually owing to him. It 
may be, however, that he is not the owner, and a thousand men 
may sue and recover in the same way, without any title at all. 
All that is necessary is to swear that they are Bondholders. It 



358 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

will be impossible, of course, for any man to deny it in any 
other way, and the Courts must take off their hats to them, and 
pass them without question. It is sufficient, however, to say in 
regard to this pica, which has been thus flippantly disposed of, 
that if all that was said of it were true, it was the subject of 
special exception only, and then amendable, and was cured in 
every respect by a general demurrer. And to this there can be 
no answer. 

The fifth plea avers that the debt supposed to be owing, is 
altogether disputed and denied, and that although there is a 
sufficient, adequate and exclusive remedy in the courts of the 
county, no suit has been instituted, and no judgment recovered 
therefor. 

This is said by you to be argumentative, for the reason that 
the execution of the Bonds is not denied. It would be well for 
the Bondholders, if they could say as much for your opinion. I 
shall not stop, however, to inquire whether it is argumentative or 
not. It is too small a business for an occasion like the present. 
It is sufficient for my purpose that if it be so, it is cured, as 
in the former cases, by a general demurrer, and could make no 
sort of difference in the decision of the cause. 

The next paragraph in the return, which involves a plea of 
the pendency of sundry actions, instituted by other holders of 
the Bonds recited in the writ, is entirely overlooked by you. It 
was a question of lis pendens in a case, wherein you were asked 
to make, and did undertake to make a decree in favor of all of 
them. If you had jurisdiction for such a purpose, in a proceeding 
at law, where they were not before you — as you have in the end 
asserted — it was undoubtedly an answer, so far as regarded 
those who had thus sued. Why you have not made it the subject 
of remark is left only to conjecture. It was your duty, of 
course, to dispose of it, before entering a judgment. Your 
extreme precipitation would not, perhaps, allow you to bestow a 
thought upon it. 

The sixth plea is that which alleges that the recommenda- 
tion and subscription were procured by means of fraudulent and 
corrupt practices on the part of the Company, and by the pay- 
ment of money in consideration thereof — the same plea particu- 
larizing the case of a given payment made to one of the Commis- 
sioners by name. 

Your answer to this is so remarkable as to entitle it to be 
repeated at length. Here it is: 

"6th. The sixth plea alleges the corruption of the grand jury 
and the County Commissioners in making the alleged subscription, 
but in terms quite too general and indefinite for so grave a charge. 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 359 

This plea was not pressed in the argument, but we were happy to 
hear the counsel on the part of the Relator explain, without contra- 
diction, that the sums of money referred to in this plea were paid for 
clerical services, and other necessary expenses in preparing County 
bonds for issue — not only those in question here, but others also." 

It is not denied by you in terms, that this plea contains the 
elements of a good defence. The facts stated are alleged, how- 
ever, to be "too general and indefinite for so grave a charge." 
It is the easiest thing in the world to indulge in a general 
remark like this. You have not condescended, however, to 
state why you think them so, and would be puzzled to assign 
any reason for it. Any man who reads them will see that they 
are as direct and precise — as pointed and specific — to the very 
individual case of a payment made to a Commissioner by name, 
as it was possible for the ingenuity of either lawyer or Judge 
to make them. Less than this would have been sufficient in an 
affidavit of defence, to entitle the party to a trial in any case, 
even the smallest. If it was not so here, it amounts to a denial 
of justice in a cause, which was the greatest, by far, that ever 
came before you. Why it was not, is a mystery, which you, who 
profess to understand the rules of pleading, and are expected to 
know the uses of language, may reasonably be expected to 
explain. 

It is apparent, however, that you are not satisfied with this 
answer yourselves, and you proceed accordingly to fortify it by 
other considerations of a most unusual and extraordinary 
character. 

The first of these is that "it was not pressed in the argu- 
ment," and the inference intended, of course, is, that it was 
abandoned. You know that this inference is unauthorized. 
What difference did it make to you whether it was pressed or 
not ? The plea was matter of record. It stands there yet. You 
had nothing to do with the fact. That was confessed by the 
demurrer, and your business was only with the law. Whether 
it was formally argued or not, was of no consequence. If it was 
not, could you not have found a reason in your own rules, which 
limit the speeches of counsel — everyzuhere except in Philadel- 
phia — to an hour or two, and your own failure to take the hint, 
when the necessity of an extension was indicated, as I am 
assured it was ? Or was there not a better one in the fact, that 
no elaboration could add to the force of such a defence, which 
spoke sufficiently for itself? 

The second is, that you "were happy to hear the counsel for 
the Relator explain without contradiction, that the sums of 
money referred to, were paid for clerical services," &c. This 



360 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

is still more extraordinary than the other. It is no more or less 
than a declaration that the mere explanation of a Philadelphia 
lawyer, who was entirely ignorant of the facts, was allowed to 
outweigh not only the confession involved in his own construct- 
ive demurrer, that the subscription was procured fraudulently 
and corruptly, by the payment of money in consideration thereof 
— but even the positive oaths of the County Commissioners, 
themselves — merely because it had been allowed to pass without 
contradiction ! ! This is giving a new efficacy to the explana- 
tions of counsel. Who is there amongst the profession, that 
would have supposed for a moment that the explanation of a 
concluding counsel was of any consequence, or called for any 
contradiction? All that could have been said by him — a mere 
stranger — speaking only as he was directed — was but the argu- 
ment of the advocate — irrelevant to the issue, and founded on 
no personal knowledge whatever. If it had been otherwise, 
however, it has not been the usage to treat the explanations of 
any lawyer, however respectable, as evidence in the cause. If 
it were, the last speech would always be an unanswerable, and, 
of course, a fatal one. Mr. Meredith was entitled to that advan- 
tage, if it was one. If the counsel of the people had contradicted 
him in an assertion which was purely gratuitous, and entitled to 
no weight whatever, it would have been set down as an act of 
rudeness. If he had imagined, however, that you were likely 
to be made happy by any explanation which the ingenuity of his 
antagonist could have suggested, it would, doubtless, have been 
the easiest thing in the world— though, perhaps, somewhat ill- 
natured — to have disturbed that feeling, and dissipated it in a 
breath. There was nothing whatever, in the argument — as every 
Pittsburgh lawyer will say, who heard it — that seemed to call for 
a reply. If it had been attempted, however, it would have been 
against all usage, and the interruption was not likely to have 
been received with any great kindness by yourselves. It is 
passing strange, therefore, that you should now attempt to con- 
struct an argument out of his silence, under such circumstances, 
to sustain the refusal of the Jury trial to the people of this 
county. 

It is a sufficient answer, however, that this important plea, 
like all the others which you have overruled on merely formal 
grounds, was, on your own objections, unquestionably good upon 
a general demurrer, and that all you have said in relation to it, 
was of course — in your own language — "irrelevant and imper- 
tinent." 

You come next to the consideration of the Constitutional 
question, and this you dismiss with a reference to the late 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 361 

Amendment, as a popular sanction of the doctrine of the Sharp- 
less case, and the suggestion that large interests have been 
invested on the faith of that construction, and that "when the 
meaning of the Constitution has been once carefully considered, 
and judicially decided, it is to be received in that sense, and 
every reason is in favor of a steady adherence to the authorita- 
tive interpretation." 

It vi^as felt, doubtless, that this very summary mode of deal- 
ing with so great a question, was the only one by which the 
force of the objections to an erroneous construction could be 
successfully parried. To defend it was felt by you to be impos- 
sible. The puerile and monstrous argument on which it rests, 
that the Legislature may do whatever is not expressly forbidden 
by the people, though God and nature may have laid their inter- 
dict upon it, or do whatever is forbidden, by simply giving to the 
thing prohibited another name, was one which was not likely 
to strengthen the Court, or help your own credit by further 
ventilation. I may be excused, therefore, for declining now to 
turn a gun on a position which is only defended on the ground 
that it has been once taken, without regard to the question 
whether it was right or wrong. 

I am not called upon to differ with you in regard to the 
question whether a construction once settled, upon the fullest 
consideration, is to be taken as the authoritative interpretation 
of the Constitution. The case here is not one of that sort, by 
any means. The ruling of three Judges only, is a single case, 
upon contradictory and irreconcilable grounds, and on principles 
which are destructive of public liberty, and at war with the very 
existence and objects of the social state, is not to be taken as a 
settlement of a great question like this. On such a question, 
no opinion of the Courts, which impinged against the natural 
rights and liberties of the subject, has ever been allowed to stand 
in England. Nor is it your custom to display such reverence for 
adjudications here. So far from it, that it has come to be con- 
sidered, of late years, amongst professional men, that the Stare 
decisis is no security for anybody. You have not hesitated, even 
in a private case, by a divided Court, and upon the most unsatis- 
factory reasons, to reverse again and again the unanimous 
opinions of your predecessors. How is it, then, that such extra- 
ordinary sanctity is to be attributed to a solitary decision, so 
made, which absolutely threatens the destruction of the best half 
of this great CommonweaUh, that it is to be approached with 
■ religious awe, and would be little less than profane to doubt or 
argue it? Is it because the purchasers of these securities have 
been mislead by your error? That is the idea apparently con- 



362 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

veyed in the remark that large interests are resting on the faith 
of that construction. It does not seem to have occurred to you, 
that if the construction was a wrong one, there are interests 
infinitely larger, which are resting upon the ancient law, in the 
comparison with which your Bondholders are but dust in the 
balance. I do not believe, however, that any considerable invest- 
ments have been made on the authority of the Sharpless case. 
A wise man would not have chosen to risk much on a decision 
so made, and its only effect has been to give the reins to specula- 
tion, by depressing the securities, and setting capitalists to 
gambling upon the chances of an adherence to that doctrine, or 
a return to the wholesome principles which it has overthrown. 
A decision unanimously made, in accordance with the general 
professional sentiment, and the great rights of human nature, 
would have kept these securities at a high price. The men who 
have bought on that of the Sharpless case, have invariably 
indemnified themselves for the risk, by securing a heavy discount, 
and they are the same men, whom your policy would now relieve 
from the whole risk, by throwing it upon the innocent victims 
of your differences, or your errors. 

The auxiliary argument which you have borrowed from the 
constitutional amendment, only betrays the weakness of the 
position which it is invoked to support. There was no man 
perhaps in this State who revolted at the doctrine of the Sharp- 
less case, that did not vote in favor of the amendment, and it is 
a memorable fact which you, as Democrats, ought to have been 
the last to forget — that the vote of your whole party was cast 
upon the argument of the State Central Committee, that 
although it was more than doubtful whether the Sharpless case 
had been correctly decided, it would be prudent, at all events, to 
make all sure by inserting the prohibition. I thank you, how- 
ever, for this reference to the people. It is the first occasion on 
which you seem to have recognized their rights or power. You 
have now appealed to Caesar, and thereby acknowledged his 
jurisdiction. The answer which you suppose him to have given, 
is at least of doubtful interpretation. To Caesar, therefore, 
shall you go again, upon an issue which shall be direct and intel- 
ligible, and if he does not reverse both your judgments with an 
emphasis which will be unmistakable, I shall be greatly disap- 
pointed. On such a question as this, where you are warring 
against every instinct of the freeman, it is the most pitiable of 
delusions, to suppose that you can hold a position which is so 
demonstrably wrong. If you can, it is what no king or Court 
has ever yet done before you. 

The result of your opinion comes next, and that is, in a 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 363 

general judgment for the Relator, with an order to the Com- 
missioners to make provision for the payment of the interest, 
present and prospective, not on the Relator's Bonds alone, but on 
the $300,000 of certificates recited in his complaint. 

This result, it will be admitted on all hands, does not fall 
short of the opinion by which it is ushered in. It is not merely 
a final judgment upon a general demurrer, for matter of mere 
form, which no Court ever before pronounced. It is a judgment 
in affirmance of a debt, which is not even known to be owing to 
anybody, and in favor of men who are not parties to the suit, 
and who are, of course, entirely unknown to you. It is a volun- 
teer judgment in favor of parties who were then prosecuting 
their claims in other Courts. And it is a judgment, also, for 
moneys which are not yet owing, and possibly never may be. 
I leave out of the question the fact that it assumes the right to 
tax the people of this county, to the whole value of their estates, 
if necessary, as though they were your subjects. There is noth- 
ing that could be added to it in the way of novelty. In all these 
particulars, I think it may be said that the like has never yet 
been seen. In none of them, I think, can authority or precedent 
be found to support you. You have not cited any. You have 
not even looked for it, I suppose, because you knew that the 
search would be fruitless. You have not condescended to 
inquire into your right to pass upon what was not before you, 
or indeed to do any of the several things embodied in your 
decree. You seem to take it for granted that you have a right 
to do just as you please. You will be expected, however, to do 
all this before you can command the confidence, or secure the 
submission of the people. They look upon you only as a judi- 
ciary, and this as a usurpation. They can see nothing in the act 
which you have just done that has any of the features of a judi- 
cial proceeding. The idea of a judgment or a jurisdiction, where 
nobody is suing, is a novelty to them. The notion that you may 
bind them without a trial, and that the trial by Jury— the great 
palladium of their liberties— is dependent on your pleasure, is 
equally revolting and inadmissible. It has in their eyes, more 
of the aspect of a Royal Proclamation than of the proceeding 
of a Court, and if any attempt should be made to enforce its 
mandate, it will be well worthy of consideration whether the 
parties directing and abetting it, are not liable as something 
more than trespassers. 

But I am not yet done with you. Your decree involved 
another incurable infirmity. Illogical as was your opinion, your 
judgment itself, was not even a legal consequence of what you 
had decided. In the minuteness of your research into the 



364 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

Structure of the Return, the general effect of your criticisms was 
overlooked. You forgot that by the well settled rule of law, all 
your objections were cured, and that, as a necessary result of 
your own argument, your judgment should have been in favor 
of the defendants, unless you were prepared to say that the facts 
alleged did not contain the elements of a good defence. The 
blunder was a natural one. The mind, like the eye, contracts 
under the use of the microscope. It was a standing reproach 
to the profession of the law at the period when suitors were 
turned out of Court upon a mere question of orthography. 
Those who are in the habit of dwelling upon small things, will 
soon lose the faculty of comprehensive vision, which can take 
in a whole field at a glance. The fly which alights upon the dial 
plate of a clock, may see deeply into its structure, but would be 
slow in acquiring a correct knowledge of the time of day. 

It was hoped, however, that the exposure of this error, 
would induce you to retrace your steps. It was, accordingly 
brought to your notice, as you say, at the last hour of your ses- 
sion in this city. It was then very quietly suggested, that you 
had mistakingly and improvidently rendered a judgment in favor 
of the plaintiff, when, by your own showing, the law required 
that it should have been the other way. You were asked either 
to change it, or if your hypothetical demurrer was to be con- 
sidered a special one — to enter the proper judgment, and allow 
the defendants to amend. The announcement took you by sur- 
prise. If you had digged a pit it was clear you had fallen into 
it yourselves, and lawyers were curious to know how you were 
to" get out. You could not deny the rule. You endeavored 
to meet it by the suggestion that you intended to say that there 
was not even a defence in substance. Your attention was then 
called specially to the several pleas which you had overruled on 
formal grounds, and you were asked to say, whether you were 
willing to be understood as deciding — as the Record would then 
exhibit you — that the admitted facts that the plaintiff was not a 
bona Me holder — that the Bonds were issued without authority 
of law and not m payment of the subscription — and that the sub- 
scription, itself was obtained, and the Bonds procured by fraudu- 
lent and corrupt practices, and by the payment of money to the 
Commissioners— were not to be taken to constitute a good 
defence? To this you made no answer. It was reserved for 
your subsequent meetmg in Philadelphia to untie this knot. It 
was hoped that a little time and reflection would enable you to 
make a graceful retreat, from a position, which it was impossible 
for you to maintain. You had decided in a hurry. It was the 
charitable presumption that you had erred through inadvertence, 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 365 

and that no feeling of pride wonld be allowed to prevent a con- 
fession of it. Those who so judged you, were doomed to disap- 
pointment. You refused to correct your error, upon grounds 
which I shall now examine. If your case was a bad one before, 
it is made so much worse, by your last utterances, that even 
charity itself can no longer excuse you. 

You begin by proclaiming, in a somewhat ostentatious way, 
that "the motion made at the very last moment of your late term, 
should be disposed of in the first hour of your next term." 

This announcement was unnecessary. The character of the 
opinion itself is sufficient to indicate that, like your Pittsburgh 
argument, there was more of hurry and impulse in its construc- 
tion, than was likely to be productive of any safe or valuable 
results. The language used in entering the once solemn judgment 
of a Court has always been, "it is considered." It is the appar- 
ent boast of your tribunal — you take pains, at least, to show — 
that you decide without any consideration at all. With such 
ideas of judicial duty, it is not surprising that you should have 
ended as you began. With a little less hurry, and an argument 
to aid you, the chances are that you would have arrived at a 
different result. Festina lente is a good maxim for a Judge. If 
you had taken the last hour of the term, instead of the iirst one, 
it would have been a confession, at least, that you had come to 
realize the importance of the rights on which you have just now 
so unceremoniously passed. 

The motion, you say, was too long delayed, if proper at any 
time. Allow me to suggest in return that there is no authority 
whatever for this assertion. There is no Court in Pennsylvania 
which does not habitually claim and exercise the right of correct- 
ing its own Records at any time within the Term at which a 
judgment is entered. Nay more. Your own Court has, I think, 
on more than one occasion, corrected a judgment improperly or 
improvidently entered, after the lapse of a year or more from the 
period of the entry. The case of Bingham vs. Guthrie was, if I 
mistake not, one of that kind, which you cannot have forgotten. 
It is surprising, therefore, — if anything could now surprise us — 
that you should now venture to hold such language in reference 
to a cause wherein the application was made at the same Term, 
and within a period of two weeks after the entry of the Judg- 
ment, and where the Record shows no issue, and no authority 
therefore, for entering a Judgment at all ! It is only the fact so 
strangely heralded, that your opinion was delivered "within the 
first hour of the Term," that can excuse an assertion so hasty, 
and ill-considered, and entirely unauthorized. There is not a 
tyro in the profession who does not know better. 



2,66 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

You say, too, that the appHcation is founded on the notion 
that you ought to have treated the demurrer as a special one to 
certain parts of the Return, and on the idea that the judgment 
therein, if against the defendants, should have been a respondeas 
ouster, and that a judgment for the Plaintiff on a general demur- 
rer, is not applicable to these parts of the Return. And this you 
think, is a misconception which can be readily shown. 

The misconception, if any, is entirely your own. The state- 
ment thus made is only another evidence of your imperfect 
understanding of an objection which a familiar acquaintance 
with the rules of pleading would have enabled you to compre- 
hend, as well as of the unhappy consequences of that precipi- 
tancy upon which you so inconsiderately plume yourselves. 
The counsel for the defendants indulged in no such language. 
He knew his duties better if he could not make you understand 
yours. He did not claim that you should have treated the 
demurrer as a special one to certain parts of the Return. He 
complained, on the contrary, that you did so treat it, when it was 
a general one, by rulmg the case on formal exceptions, which that 
had cured, and insisted that if you chose to treat it as a special 
one — the demurrer itself being merely hypothetical, and entirely 
of your own imagining — then it was your duty to award a.respon- 
deas ouster, and allow the defendants to amend in the particulars 
to which you took exception. Nor did he claim that a judgment 
for the plaintiff, on a general demurrer was not applicable to 
those parts of the return. He insisted, on the contrary, that a 
judgment on such a demurrer must be in favor of the defend- 
ants on the zvhole return. You talk confusedly as one who was 
not instructed in the rules, and was not likely therefore to under- 
stand the objection which was made to your decision. A little 
study would have enlightened you. It was too much, perhaps, to 
expect that you should speak with any great precision "within 
the first hour of the Term." 

"The return," you say, "was one thing. It consisted of 
numerous allegations, suggestions and innuendoes, all massed 
together, without parts or proportions. It had neither sections, 
pleas, nor any orderly arrangement, whatever. In this state it 
was presented on the record, as the answer. Though composed 
of so many parts, they all constituted one document — the final 
answer." 

You do not, obviously, like the return. It was scarcely 
expected that you would. Your previous opinion shows that this 
feeling was a sincere one. Your present indicates that you 
think, or affect to think, it even worse than you did before. Then 
you explored it with the microscope, until your intensest powers 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 367 

of vision were exhausted. Nozv you indulge in generalities — 
which is always a safe mode of criticism — and language almost 
fails you in the presentation of its defects. A thing of this kind 
may, however be overdone. You carry it so far, that one is dis- 
posed to doubt whether you think as badly of it as you pretend. 
General and indiscriminate censure is no better than a vague 
and indefinite plea. It shows bad temper and worse taste, if it 
exhibits nothing more. When you assert that the return is 
massed together without parts or proportions, and without sec- 
tions, pleas, or orderly arrangement — and that in the face of the 
return itself — the lawyer who has read it cannot but testify his 
surprise. When you complain that it is ivithoiit parts, and then 
declare almost in the same breath that, although it is composed 
of so many parts, it is to be taken as a whole, even laymen are 
at a loss to know whether it was shortness of memory, or con- 
fusion of ideas which ruled the hour. 

It will be conceded on all hands that this mode of dealing 
with a great constitutional right, has the merit, at least, of being 
a new one. Whether the criticism referred to was intended to 
be a literary or professional one, is not altogether apparent. 
It is a singular jumble of incongruous ideas. There is a strife 
for precedence between the fine arts and the law. "Allegations, 
and suggestions, and innuendoes" — "parts, proportions, and 
orderly arrangement" are delightfully intermingled, and run 
dancing together "in all the mazes of metaphorical confusion." 
The former smack of the pleader ; the latter are eminently sug- 
gestive of a page of Ruskin. A great chemist has the credit of 
having married science to agriculture. If you can succeed in 
wedding architecture to law, you would have rendered an equal 
service to humanity. It will be a new era, which even Bentham 
himself could not have foreseen, when the merits of a Return 
shall be measured by the divine harmonies of proportion, and the 
work of the pleader shall be subjected to the scale of Vitruvius, 
or the standard of Palladio. Posterity will thank you for the 
suggestion that the validity of an answer is to consist in the 
beauty or severity of its outline, and the fitness and adaptation 
of all its parts— that sections and pleas, all duly labelled, and 
numbered, and arranged in orderly sequence, are essential to the 
general efifect, and that no massing of details can be allowed even 
for the purpose of giving unity to the picture. It would be well, 
perhaps, if your own judicial performances could be brought up 
to the same standard, and were distinguished by the play of the 
same harmonies. If there are monstrosities in architecture, the 
same may be said with equal truth in regard to the law. The 
leaning tower of Pisa is one which no judicious architect would 



368 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

care to imitate. I trust your recent opinion is not intended as 
an example either of taste in the belles lettres, or of that which is 
true and beautiful, either in law or criticism. 

Taking it, however, that your remarks were intended to be 
professional, the gentlemen of the long robe will be amazed, if 
they will take the trouble of comparing them with the Return. 
If it be even true that sections, pleas and orderly arrangement 
are at all necessary, they will discover at once, that it contains 
them all, in higher degree and more artistic form by far, than 
the opinion itself. The damage that may result from the com- 
parison is one which the author of that return himself has no 
occasion to dread. Whether he will feel aggrieved by strictures 
like this, is more than doubtful. He might well afford to bear 
them without complaint, when they come from a Bench of 
pleaders, who could so blunder as to treat the breach of an 
express condition, as the subject only of an equitable plea. 

But why was it that you should have thought it necessary 
to indulge in such a way? The tone of your remarks on this 
subject does not seem to be a healthy one. It is not in accord- 
ance with the canons of good taste, or, as I think, exactly recon- 
cilable with the dignity of your position. Was it expected that 
this species of animadversion would be taken as an apology for 
your errors, or that the supposed infirmities of the practitioner 
would impair the public confidence in his ability or learning? 
I trust it was not intended as your answer to his strictures on 
your opinion in the Sharpless case. It is related of the Star 
Chamber, which in many things you seem disposed to imitate, that 
it cropped off the ears of one Prynne, a very learned Republican 
lawyer, who had written a book, which was pretended to have 
reflected on the Queen. The process would not answer in times 
like these. If it is to be superseded by the more ingenious device 
of suggesting the elongation of the same member by writing 
down a refractory barrister as an ass? That device might 
answer, when the robe was supposed to confer learning on the 
wearer. It will not do in Pennsylvania. It will be well for 
those who resort to it, to remember that it cannot add an inch to 
their own stature, and may, perhaps, provoke comparisons, 
which may not be advantageous to themselves. I doubt much, 
whether you would have ventured on that line of argument, if 
you had been in the way of a reply. 

You affect to treat the whole return as "a confused mass of 
allegations," which you were compelled to go through, step by 
step, picking out what was relevant material, and say that, for 
your own convenience, you performed the painful operation of 
classifying the facts, dividing it into sections, or heads, or pleas, 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 369 

and numbering them from one to seven. What will the profes- 
sion and the people think of your candor and fairness, when 
they are informed that every one of these allegations was set 
forth distinctly and severally, in regular sequence, and broken 
up into sections, in precisely the same order as you have con- 
sidered them — that you had no task of classification whatever 
to perform, and that all that was done by you, was to call them 
pleas, and number them in the order in which you found them? 
And yet the fact is so, as any man may see, who will give him- 
self the trouble of taking up the return, and comparing it with 
your opinion ! Surely, if you had but taken another hour to 
consider your supplemental answer, you would not have blun- 
dered into a statement so easy of contradiction, and so injurious 
to yourselves. 

You think, however, that it was this self-imposed operation 
— which you did not, and had no occasion to perform — that must 
have suggested to the counsel himself, that some of his pleas — 
"as they are now called" — ought to have been separate and inde- 
pendent grounds of judgment — which you insist was not so, 
because they were only parts of a whole, which you considered 
and condemned as a whole. 

The counsel, I think, was not disposed to borrow any sug- 
gestions from you, on the subject of special pleading. There 
was nothing in your opinion to recommend you as safe instruc- 
tors in that branch of learning. The nomenclature was your 
own. There was no question with him, as to separate and inde- 
pendent grounds of judgment. As a merely "tolerable" pleader, 
he did not, and could not treat the return as anything but a 
whole. The want of parts was only a subject of complaint with 
yourselves. He did, however, entertain the opinion — as every 
well instructed lawyer must — that if there was any one fact 
stated in the whole return, which would amount to a defence, if 
well pleaded, then you were bound on well settled principles, to 
render a judgment in favor of the defendants. This you now 
deny — without even understanding him yet — in the assertion 
just made by you, for the first time that it has ever emanated 
from a Court — that the effect of a general demurrer was only 
to admit the facts that were zvell pleaded in the Return ! ! 

To show, however, in what manner you reason as Lawyers, 
and to give you the full advantage of telling your own story, 
without the suspicion that you have been misrepresented, I quote 
the following passage from your opinion: 

"To ascertain what these facts were, we were led to speak of 
the certainty and precision required in returns to mandamus, and 
were obliged to classify the facts, that we might see which of them 



o/' 



THOMAS WILLIAMS 



■were sufficiently pleaded, and which were not. We found allega- 
tions of facts that were irrelevant, ambiguous, argumentative, and 
hypothetical, and we set them aside, as not admitted by the de- 
murrer, nor, therefore, drawn into judgment. We rendered no 
judgment on them as specific grounds of defence. We simply put 
them out of the case. Possibly, had they been specific grounds of 
judgment, they would have prevailed as against a general de- 
murrer; but they were not. We entered no judgment, as in special 
demurrers, to those parts of the return. What we rendered judg- 
ment upon was the return as a whole, and the criticisms of its 
facts were for the purpose of placing before our minds, in a distinct 
light, the facts we were to consider as admitted." 

Here is something new for professional men. The effect is, 
that on a general Return, which requires only a plain narration, 
without even formal pleas or any high degree of art, and upon 
a general demurrer, you very coolly, "set aside" every allegation 
of facts, which you supposed to be general or argumentative, or 
hypothetical, as not admitted by the demurrer, and therefore not 
drawn into judgment. You tell us, wdth a naivete that is truly 
charming, that you "simply put them out of the case," as not 
being specific grounds of judgment. And upon such grounds 
as these, you rendered a general judgment for the plaintiff, "as, 
you say it was your sworn duty to do." 

I am not uncharitable enough to insinuate, in the face of this 
solemn declaration, that you did not suppose yourselves to be 
doing your duty. I must be allowed to say, however, that it is 
extremely unfortunate, that your views of duty should be so 
much at variance with the rights of the citizen, and that they 
should not have suggested the obligation to hear at least before 
you undertook to decide. The minute and almost invisible points, 
upon which you have ruled this case, were not raised by the 
pleadings, and therefore not argued before you at all. You were 
bound, of course, to bring to its decision, not merely a con- 
science, but an enlightened one. If you have decided rightly 
without a hearing, it was a wrong, as the poet tells you. If 
you have stumbled in the dark, "or having ears preferred to 
hear not," no sense of duty can excuse your errors. It was 
impossible, I think, for you to have decided as you have done, 
if you had allowed an argument on the questions on which you 
ruled the case in the first instance, or had directed it even at the 
last, instead of deciding the case, "in the first hour of your 
term." There is nothing, I think, in the history of American 
jurisprudence so extraordinary, as the decision which you have 
thus made. If there is a respectable lawyer in America, who 
would not be shocked at it, I should like to hear from him. If 
there is any one who would undertake its defence, it is about 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 371 

time to search him out. You have gone so far beyond even the 
requirements of the Relator's counsel, that I greatly doubt 
whether even they will indorse you. The idea that a general 
demurrer admits nothing but what is well pleaded, has not the 
shadow of foundation in authority. You cannot show a case in 
which it was ever so decided. The notion that you can discard 
any portion of the return — "set it aside" — "put it out of the 
case," and render no judgment upon it, as though you were 
masters of the record, and had a right to expunge any material 
portion of the defence, which may not exactly suit you, is a 
monstrous one — even more monstrous, if possible, than any thing 
which is to be found in your previous opinion. You took the 
return, as you inform us, as a whole, and did not pass upon the 
question at all ! It was a strange idea, that, because it was a 
whole, you had a right to discard a part, and pass judgment on 
the residue — or that there was such a difference in effect, 
between a plea and a return, that you might do in the one case 
what you would not venture to do in the other ! There is 
nothing clearer than that you were bound by every obligation 
which belongs to your place, to give the defendants the benefit 
of every part and parcel of their defence, and had no right to 
deny it, or to discard any portion whatever of that defence on 
merely technical grounds. If it be true that there was any por- 
tion of it not well pleaded, or hypothetical, or argumentative, all 
you could do in any state of the pleadings was to direct a 
rcspondcas ouster, and nothing more — not as to a part, but as to 
the whole. In discarding that which you allege to be faulty, 
you have, in effect, rendered an absolute and final judgment 
against the defendants on those points, in contempt of the just 
rights of the people, and in clear, absolute, and inexcusable 
violation of the rules of law. It is idle to waste words upon 
it. It has the force of a self-evident proposition. No pleader 
can excuse it. If you were wrong in the first instance, you are 
now as madly wrong, as though you had swallowed "the insane 
root which takes the reason prisoner." You have decided, in 
effect, that it is no defence to the people of this county that the 
plaintiff has no title, that the bonds were issued without author- 
ity, or that they were fraudulently procured ! And in so decid- 
ing, you have declared that there is no possible defence which 
shall be allowed to avail them under any circumstances, and that 
they may be stripped, at your pleasure, of the trial by jury — the 
bulwark of their liberties — their highest and most inestimable 
right as freemen — and sophisticated out of their defences by the 
most contemptible of quibbles ! 

And this you say, is enough on refusing this motion, and 



372 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

more than you would have allowed yourselves to say but for the 
respect you entertain for the citizens of a great county who are 
apparently represented in this proceeding. 

Yes ! It is enough and too much ! Enough to satisfy the 
people that they have nothing to expect from you, and too much, 
if I mistake not, for either them, or you. You speak as though 
they held the jury trial of your gift. They are obliged to you for 
your condescension in vouchsafing so much. When you have 
occasion to speak to them again, it may not perhaps be con- 
sidered by you so great a favor. 

You have not deemed it, however, unworthy of you, in this 
connection, to insinuate a doubt whether the people of this 
county were actually represented in this defence. It has not 
been usual with Courts like yours, to indulge in such remarks 
as this. Why you should have done it here is a question only 
for conjecture. That it had a motive and a meaning, it would 
be a reflection on you to doubt. That you may have been 
induced to think that the people were only apparently repre- 
sented, is not improbable. Whether that impression was allowed 
to have any weight with you in ruling this cause, is more than 
any body here can answer. If it was not in some way regarded 
as a material fact, it does not seem likely that it would have 
found its way into your opinion. As such, it becomes, of course, 
a proper subject of remark. If it be true, however, that it was 
treated by you as a legitimate element in the decision of this 
cause, you must allow me to say, that although the last of your 
blunders, it was not by any means the least. If there were any 
differences of opinion here, you have rendered a good service 
to the cause of freedom, by fusing them down into the most 
perfect unanimity. Your studied and unprofessional attempt 
to shake the confidence of the people in their representative, 
has, by a very natural reaction against injustice, only 
strengthened him, by damaging yourselves. Your "desire that 
the people should understand clearly the grounds of your judg- 
ment," is now accomplished. Your last utterances have con- 
vinced them that no defence could serve, and no professional 
talent save them. They looked to you in the first instance, as the 
proper defenders of their liberties. You have compelled them 
now to regard you only as their oppressors. They will hence- 
forward look to themselves. If you think you are stronger than 
they are, upon a question of liberty, where they are clearly 
right, and you as clearly wrong, you can precipitate the 
collision whenever you think proper. You are industrious in 
the task of preparing them for it now. Your new emission of 
Writs of Mandamus from your head-quarters, in Philadelphia, 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 373 

to the great municipalities of the west, commanding their 
appearance at your gilded chamber in Chestnut street, in viola- 
tion of the very spirit of Magna Charta, and all the traditions of 
the English law, is only another brand cast upon the flames. 
The quick instinct of self-preservation, and the sense of resist- 
ance to wrong, which you seem so foolishly to ignore, will soon 
become universal in the western counties. When that sentiment 
is thoroughly awakened, as it is sure to be, there will be an end 
of your power. That power is a moral one. It rests only on the 
confidence of the people, which itself reposes only on your 
habitual respect for their rights. They are, at last, the only 
executioners of your decrees. While you preserve that confi- 
dence, you may command them; but no longer. When that is 
gone, all is gone. You peril it by such experiments. You can- 
not even exist in a condition of antagonism to their liberties and 
their instincts. You have entered upon a task in comparison 
with which, all the labors of Hercules were but child's play. It 
is far above your strength, as you will soon find, if you have not 
discovered it already. You cannot enslave them, although you 
may destroy yourselves, by such arguments as these. If you 
can survive the employment of them, it will be fortunate for you. 
The act which you have just done would have convulsed all 
England to its foundations. The seizure and forfeiture of the 
Charters only of the great municipalities, with the aid of supple 
and compliant Judges, in the reign of Charles II, had at least 
some plausible grounds to rest upon. The confiscation of the 
very property of whole communities by the arbitrary denial of 
the right of trial by jury upon such an argument as you have 
ofifered — or upon any argument at all — is a fearful experiment 
for an American court, which those who attempt will do well to 
remember, that they will be expected to justify by a logic which 
shall subdue the understanding, and drown even the moral 
instincts of the freeman. Junius. 

When this scathing "Review" on the Supreme Court 
was issued it was spread broadcast over the State. It 
was intended not only as a "Review" in a legal sense, 
but as a propagandist's call to rouse Allegheny County 
and others to resistance to this mode ol settling the ques- 
tions at issue. It was virtually an attack on and chal- 
lenge to the Supreme Court — "you can precipitate the 
collision whenever you think proper" was the final 
throwing down of the gage of battle. This was late 
in 1858. Early in 1859 test cases were taken to the 



374 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

United States Circuit Court, Judge Grier presiding. In 
these, although Judge Grier complimented Mr. Williams 
in the highest terms and plainly indicated his belief 
that the decisions in the Sharpless case and all since 
then were wrong, the action of the State court bound 
him, but the case could be taken to the Supreme Court 
at Washington. This was counted a great victory. "Mr. 
Williams," said an editorial in the Weekly True Press of 
May 21, 1859, "is entitled to the public congratulations 
for this great result. He has fought this battle single- 
handed. He has encountered a storm of newspaper 
denunciation and obloquy, which few men would have 
had the courage to resist. The very Councils of the city 
had paid interest on these Bonds, and insisted on recog- 
nizing them." It says Williams was alone against two 
such giants of the law as Stanton and Shaler, but that 
"David has smitten Goliath, while the proud jeers and 
epithets of the Philistines were ringing in his ears."^ 
At the November sessions (1859), in another of the cases, 
Wood vs. Allegheny County,- Judge Grier's opinion 
was, in part, as follows: "If the right of a municipal 
corporation to subscribe, even when authorized by the 
Legislature, to purposes so alien to its general purpose 
as the construction of works of improvement which, in 
their largest part, are in distant counties and in other 
States, were open to me for consideration as a new point, 
I cannot say that I should hold such subscriptions other 
than simply void. The strongest arguments at law have 
been made against such subscriptions, and they are worth 
recurring to as containing true and lawyer-like views of 
the extent and character of municipal powers. But the 
matter is not open in this court. The Legislature of 
Pennsylvania has authorized counties to make such sub- 
scriptions, and the Supreme Court of the State has de- 
cided (though by a bare majority) that the act is con- 
stitutional. The views of that court upon the status of 
their own State bind this court." This was a moral 
victory for Mr. Williams and his constituents, and on the 

' Mr. Williams was a small man in physical stature. Judge Grier's first 
expressions on two of the cases seemed to indicate that they had been won by 
Mr. Williams, but the final opinion showed him bound by the Supreme Court 
rulings. 

^ 3 Wallace Jr. Reports, 267. 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 375 

Strength of it the commissioners of the county refused 
to obey the mandamus of the Supreme Court and were 
incarcerated in jail, remaining and still refusing, on Mr. 
Williams' advice, until the creditors of the county made 
a compromise, by which, because of a reduced rate of 
interest, the principal of the bonds was finally admitted/ 
This, indeed, was what he aimed at, as it was the only 
thing that could be done under the circumstances, and 
the result was a saving of over a million and a quarter 
dollars to the community. He himself received not a 
cent even for his personal expenses in the long-continued 
fight. 

He gave an account of this great contest, over a 
dozen years later, provoked to it by an article on the 
subject in the Pittsburgh Commercial:- 

My attention has been called to an article published in the 
local department of your paper, during my absence from home, 
under the imposing caption of "the city free from liens," which 
was so obviously intended — though not by you, of course — under 
cover of a pretended historical statement, for which the subject 
did not call, as the vehicle of a calumnious attack on me, as to 
demand a notice at my hands. 

It is not the first occasion on which I have been assailed in 
the same way. If I have made no answer heretofore, it was 
only because I thought I might despise a forgery so gross, and 
could not realize the possibility that a memorable passage of 
local history could be so falsified for wicked ends, within the 
short space of twelve or fifteen years, as to convey a monstrous 
lie, and be accredited as truth, on the very spot where the occur- 
rences had taken place, and the means of detection and exposure 
were so convenient and accessible. 

If an attempt so flagrant has proved — as it seems to have 
done — a partial success, it is only because within that time so 
many of the actors have disappeared from the scene, while a 
new generation, composed in large part of accessions from 
abroad, has taken their places upon our streets. Without this, 
and the presumption, founded upon past forbearance, that I 
would suffer it to pass as heretofore, unnoticed and unchal- 
lenged, it would neither have been hazarded in the first place, 
nor repeated now. 

When vice grows bold, however, upon impunity, and false- 

' Ibid. Note. 

- September 7, 1871. 



376 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

hood comes to be received as verity, by mere force of uncon- 
tradicted newspaper assertion, the time has come when the 
truth of history requires that it should be arrested and nailed to 
the counter like a spurious coin, and its utterers taught that they 
may presume too far. Happily, the facts are quite too recent 
here to make the experiment of falsification a permanent suc- 
cess, and I am not sorry that the occasion offers to impale the 
fraud, and, once for all, to teach its dupes how largely they have 
been imposed upon. 

Though recent, however, these facts are still too old to 
make it probable that either you or your reporter could have had 
any personal cognizance of them. They came to you, of course, 
at second hand, and were published, no doubt upon the faith 
that your informant was to be believed, and without the suspi- 
cion that he had any interest in misleading you. He has 
deceived you cruelly by a story so full of distortion, and suppres- 
sion, and absolute misstatement, as to give to it the character 
of a studied and premeditated fraud, and to show, I think, that 
the inventor had a purpose to serve in its concoction and pro- 
mulgation at this particular time. That story has its heroes and 
its culprit. Whether its purpose was only to exalt the credit 
of others, who have more dangerous designs upon the Treasury, 
than even the reckless Councilmen who made the railroad debt 
of 1853, or to discredit and disarm the adversary, who admon- 
ished the people of their danger then, and might possibly be 
expected to do so now, or for both these objects, I do not know. 
In either case, however, while I might afford, as heretofore, to 
despise any attacks upon myself, I cannot consent that they shall 
be used to mask another and a worse assault upon the people. 

Your reporter suggests that "the history of the railroad 
bonds, if followed out in detail, would make a long chapter, but 
as he has neither the data nor the time, a statement in brief of a 
few facts must suffice." li he had written that history truly, it 
would have furnished a lesson for the present times that would 
have rendered any remarks from me unnecessary. His inform- 
ant did not wish it told, and he has accordingly substituted a 
different tale, in which the element of fact, where it appears at 
all, is only so travestied as to give plausibility to the merest 
fable. With your permission, though at the necessary expense 
of a little egotism, I will now set this right, by narrating the 
suppressed story of the folly and profligacy which so deeply 
involved these corporations, showing the falsity of the whole 
coloring in regard to the events which followed, and stating 
nothing, as I think, material, which will not be found sustained 
by the public records and the newspapers of the time. 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 377 

The idea of building railroads with municipal bonds, once 
before defeated through my agency as far back as 1836, found, 
I think, its earliest and fullest development here. It was not 
merely a question whether these corporations should subscribe 
in aid of such enterprises, but substantially whether they should 
resolve themselves into Railroad Companies, and undertake these 
works themselves. As a citizen of Pittsburgh, with the deepest 
interest in its welfare, and connected through a revolutionary 
ancestor, who saw in it, as a frontier post, the germ of its future 
greatness, with the list of its "first purchasers," I could not but 
tremble for the consequences, as I do now for the rashness that 
threatens to bankrupt it a second time. Regarding the attempt 
to involve it in private enterprises of such gigantic dimensions, 
and certain failure, as an invasion of the rights of property, 
which was only another name for the liberties of the citizen, and 
an invitation to the reckless and profligate to riot in the plunder 
of the people, I did not hesitate to denounce it by argument and 
solemn protest, in the newspapers, and upon the public records, 
as a violation of individual right, that was fraught with both 
moral and financial ruin. I went further. When this great 
question came up, as it did, for hearing before the Supreme 
Court of the State, at Philadelphia, in 1853, in what is known 
as the Sharpless case, and the railroad companies here had sent 
their counsel to represent and enforce their views, while the 
victims were without a defender, I stepped forward and volun- 
teered an argument of sixty printed pages, in which I fore- 
shadowed distinctly every step in the downward path of profli- 
gacy and ruin, to the supreme catastrophe, which five years 
afterward wrapped all these communities in gloom. 

Very unexpectedly to the public, the constitutionality of 
these laws was sustained by a divided Court, the then Chief 
Justice (Black,) who had himself arrested a like attempt on the 
part of the Commissioners of his own county of Somerset by 
denouncing it as no better than robbery, turning a summerset on 
the eve of the decision, and giving his casting vote in favor of the 
power To this I answered by reviewing the opinions of the 
majority in another printed argument of even greater length, 
in which I showed, as I thought, that those opinions were not 
onlv untenable, but logically irreconcilable with each other, and 
gave notice that at the proper time the authority of this decision 
would be questioned. And of this last argument, I may be par- 



doned the vanity of saying, that it was many 



times commended 



by The 'late Judge Grier to lawyers of other States, as well as 
this, as both unanswered and unanswerable. 



378 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

With this mischievous decision, however, to sustain them, it 
was vain to expostulate further with either the Councils of 
Pittsburgh, or the Commissioners of the county. The flood- 
gates were unlocked, and there was no project, however wild 
or extravagant, that was not sure to command their votes, 
with the whole press urging them on, and assuring the people 
that, inasmuch as the companies were to pay the interest on the 
bonds, until the roads were finished, these bonds amounted to 
no more than loajts of credit, which would never come back to 
plague them. They did come back, as I told them they certainly 
would. No man who was not railroad mad could have failed 
to see that it could not be otherwise, when they were scattered 
about like autumn leaves, to the extent of five millions and a 
half, at heavy discounts — in some cases almost for nothing — and 
perhaps half the proceeds used in payment of the interest alone, 
the bonds in question constituting, as they did, nearly the whole 
capital stock of these vast enterprises. The roads broke down, 
of course, as soon as they had exhausted this, their only resource, 
unfinished, helpless, penniless, discredited and ruined, with the 
bonds of these corporations squandered, and nothing hardly to 
show for them but a few abortive excavations and embankments 
here and there, to stand as monuments of the folly of the public 
authorities and their advisers. They ceased to pay the interest 
of course, and the holders of the securities, which were to be 
only "loans of credit," were, at the end of five years, clamoring 
at the doors of a frightened Council, and an astonished people, 
for their six per cent., which the same newspapers, and the 
"business men," who paid no tax — the same parties who had 
cheated them by the false pretence that they made no debt — 
now insisted that they should meet without a controversy, for 
the honor of the city, and whether they owed the amount or 
not, by more than doubling at once the burthens of the people. 

Your informant, carefully suppressing all these facts, on the 
plea that the truth w^ould make too long a story, makes your 
reporter say, instead, that "a few years after these subscriptions 
were made, there was a tightness in the money market, and rail- 
road stocks declined, particularly those in which the city had 
invested so largely, and it was being pushed, &c." 

Here is a double falsehood, and a inean one, too — so mean 
and sneaking, if you will allow the word, that the man who 
uttered it must have hung his head in doing so. The money 
market, was, I think, no tighter than usual. If it had been, how- 
ever, no decline in stocks could have had anything to do with 
the payment of the interest on the bonds, as the companies had 
no stocks to sell, and the city was not to pay. But even if it was. 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 379 

and your informant meant that the stocks, which he thinks ought 
to have been kept, were its resource for doing so, there had 
been no dechne in them, because, in point of fact, they had 
never had a dollar of marketable value. The trouble was that 
the bonds were exhausted, and the companies had no further 
means to pay the interest, and, therefore — and not for any other 
reason — "the city was being pushed" for it, as I told them in 
advance they would be, and such men as your informant, who 
now think that it can make a bigger debt upon a worse pretence, 
without being "pushed" hereafter, assured them to be impossible. 
How softly he puts it ! "The city was being pushed" — not 
because the Councils had been fools, and the people dupes — but 
because "the money market zvas tight and Railroad Stocks, par- 
ticularly its ozvn, had declined." Does he think that your readers 
are fools^ and that he can impose such chaff as this upon them 
now as history? The counterfeit is quite too patent to impose 
on anybody. I doubt whether it could even pass muster in the 
Councils. 

He proceeds to say, however, that "by the advice of a promi- 
nent lazvyer" — meaning, of course, myself — "the city, instead of 
compromising the claims, and thereby saving her credit, and 
saving thousands of dollars at the same time, permitted the 
stocks to be sold at a sacrifice, much of it bringing only ten cents 
on the dollar," which, by the way, was a little more than the 
bonds of the neighboring borough of McKeesport cost the honest 
holder who demanded cent per cent. "The city," he proceeds, 
"had now a debt of $1,800,000 with accrued interest, and not a 
dollar in stocks or anything else but experience, to show for it, 
and in 1863, it was resolved to make the best of a bad bargain by 
compromising the six per cent, bonds at four per cent., which 
was effected, and the greater portion taken up." 

Here is another falsehood, blended with much distortion, 
and just fact enough to leaven the whole mass for popular con- 
sumption. 

It is not true, in the first place, that there was any offer to 
compromise until the bondholders were forced to it, by the 
resistance which was made under my advice, and through my 
sole agency in the Courts. When the Roads defaulted, they 
came upon the city, and although those bonds, in many instances, 
had been purchased by them for the merest trifle, insisted rigidly 
upon their pound of flesh, according to the letter of the contract. 
The newspapers and "business men," who paid no tax, as I 
remarked before, came to their aid with one accord, insisting 
that while every other debtor may honestly defend in Court 
upon a want of power, or want of consideration, or on the ground 



380 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

of fraud, it would be highly dishonorable for an innocent people 
to object to pay the Kings of the money world, who had bought 
their bonds at heavy discounts, with notice of a lawsuit, whether 
they owed them or not, and infamous for a lawyer to volunteer 
his aid in a cause where his own liberties were at stake as well 
as theirs ; and urged accordingly that the Councils and Commis- 
sioners should provide forthwith by a levy of taxes for the pay- 
ment of the interest. With the latter they succeeded, until the 
people themselves stepped in, and set the order aside. Whether 
they were equally successful, in the first instance, with the 
Councils, I do not now recollect. 

To all this, however, I objected on the ground that the 
whole question, depending, as it did, on the incongruous and 
self-contradictory opinion of a divided court, was still an open 
one, and that besides, the bonds themselves, which, as specialties, 
could not properly fall within the rule of the law merchant, 
were in some instances fraudulently procured, and put in circu- 
lation, and in many held by the owners upon little or no con- 
sideration. The people agreed with me, and the bondholders 
were driven to their remedy at law. Instead, however, of com- 
ing here in the spirit of the Great Charter, which insured to 
every man the right of a trial by a jury of his vicinage, they 
applied to the Supreme Court, then sitting in Philadelphia, for 
the high prerogative writ of mandamus, to compel the Councils 
and Commissioners to levy a tax to pay the interest on these 
bonds, with the obvious purpose of avoiding the doubtful issue of a 
trial. I answered it at Harrisburg, with the double objection that 
their process could not run throughout the State so as to give 
jurisdiction there, or at Philadelphia, over a Pittsburgh cause, 
and that on principle, and by the well settled law and practice of 
the Court, a mandamus would not lie until the claim was first 
established by a trial and judgment in the ordinary way. The 
law was so undoubtedly, as more than one decision showed. It 
was in vain, however, that I relied upon the authority of their own 
solemn decisions. The bond holders were allowed to have their 
own way. The case, however, was adjourned to Pittsburgh, in 
deference to the former of these objections, and there forced to 
argument zvithont an issue, and adjudged against the people 
upon a record that will ever remain a marvel to posterity — a 
record which decides, in effect, that it made no difference 
whether the subscriptions were fraudulently procured — whether 
the bonds were issued without authority — whether the plaintiffs 
had any interest — or whether they paid anything for them or not 
— the court refusing to reconsider their previous opinion on the 
question of power, for no better reason than because it had been 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 381 

decided before, though by a bare majority. That decision was 
reviewed by me in a series of letters over the signature of 
Junius, which were afterward collected and republished, and 
largely circulated throughout the State. I could say more about 
it, but I am content to leave its merits upon that review. The 
Commissioners and Councils refused to pay the tax, and the 
former were again summoned from their homes to Philadelphia, 
to answer for the contempt. I appeared there for them, after 
instructing them that their own presence was unnecessary. The 
court refused at first to hear me in their absence, but changed 
their minds on argument— the Judge, who seemed to exhibit the 
most feeling throughout, and then added to his other labors the 
somewhat extra judicial function of President of an Insurance 
Company, holding railroad stocks and bonds, enacting the 
unusual role of a withdrawal from the bench, because his breth- 
ren thought it best to hear me. The Commissioners proved 
obdurate, and were imprisoned. The Councils, I believe, escaped 
under promises of conformity, with no other infliction, beyond a 
moral lecture from the then Chief Justice, who had passed over 
to the other side, after himself denying the constitutionality of 
these laws. 

The bondholders now considering the path cleared, but the 
remedy perhaps too inefficient for their purpose, carried their 
claims into the Circuit Court of the United States, where, upon 
a first trial of a week's duration, under every possible discour- 
agement from the press, I was fortunate enough to astonish the 
town and disconcert their advocates, by overthrowing the claims 
founded on the city Allegheny Valley, and second Steubenville 
subscriptions, to the amount of $650,000. Judge Oner himself 
being so shocked by the developments, as to have felt constrained 
to declare openly from the Bench, that the whole affair was no 
better than highway robbery, that I had been "right and always 
ri<^ht " in law and morals upon this question, and that if he had 
been 'judicially called upon, in the first place, he would have 
issued an injunction to put a stop to it. This verdict, it is true, 
was afterwards set aside by him, mainly, as I think, m deference 
to the opinion of the Supreme Court of the State, as bemg the 
proper judges upon any question arising under the State Constitu- 
tion, but I may now indulge a just pride in saying, that while my 
view of the question as a statesman and moralist was fully justi- 
fied by the profligacy and ruin that followed this ruthless 
invasion of the rights of property, as well as by the rapid inter- 
vention of the people themselves, in so amending the Constitu- 
tion as to prevent like outrages in the future, my judgment as a 
lawyer is now as fully vindicated by the more tardy repudiation 



382 THOMx\S WILLIAMS 

in the Broad street paving case, by the Supreme Court itself — 
the responsible author of all this ruin — of the anti-social and 
incendiary doctrines of the ill-omened (Sharpless) case, which 
lighted the consuming brand that threatened the devastation of 
the entire State. So true it is, not only that there is an avenging 
Nemesis on the track of every great wrong, but that right and 
justice are always sure to prevail at last. 

But this imperfect sketch would but inadequately represent 
the burthen imposed on me, without a reference to the imequal 
struggle with a hundred voiced, and hundred-handed power, that 
could subsidize its legions of mercenaries, to disparage and 
defame the advocate who was bold enough to challenge it, in the 
courts and in the press, and for whom all its resources could find 
no better answer. Trusting to the power of hard names to 
delude the simple, and discredit the brave, the commercial 
papers of the Eastern cities, with such editors as Forney, and 
others of higher type who ought to have known better, with a 
host of parasites who never paid a private debt themselves, were 
unleashed on me with the unmeaning cry of "repudiation," for 
the first time perhaps that a lawyer has been assailed for defend- 
ing his clients and his liberty, since the era of the star chamber. 
It made no difference that he was personally above impeach- 
ment, and in all respects the peer, at least, of the best of his 
assailants. It did not avail him that the whole question in dis- 
pute, as put by the Supreme Court itself, was simply one of the 
exercise of a taxing power, that was claimed to be illimitable, and 
without even the pretence of a voluntary contract with those who 
were sought to be enslaved. It was the same question precisely 
that carried John Hampden into the courts, to defend against a 
principle, which, as Lord Clarendon remarks, "would have left 
no man in England with any thing that he could call his own." 
It was the very analogue of the struggle against unlawful tax- 
ation that passed to the issue of the sword, and detached these 
colonies from the British crown. If it was repudiation here, it 
was equally repudiation there, and the men who sought to dis- 
credit it by such a cry, would have sold themselves to the prerog- 
ative in the first case, as they would have maligned the men 
of the revolution in the second, if money had been as abundant 
then, and had ruled the world as imperiously as it does now. 
Many of them no doubt were incapable of rising to the compre- 
hension of so great a question, but it was a melancholy comment 
on the progress of liberal ideas amongst a free people, to find 
that the commercial spirit had dethroned the moral code so 
far, that an American court could be induced to rule that a 
merely implied power of taxation was uncontrollable by even the 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 383 

considerations of equality, or uniformity, or public use, and 
might be employed to strip the citizen of every dollar that he 
owned, while American editors had come to look upon the pawn- 
mg of the estates of whole communities of freemen, without their 
own consent, by the mere fiat of a usurping Legislature, to the 
Jew bankers of Hamburg and Rotterdam, as a mere business 
transaction on 'Change, and with the same indifference as the 
sale of their own subjects by the trading princes of Hesse and 
Brunswick and Wurtemburg, and not a voice could be found 
even at home, except through the establishment of an independ- 
ent press, which taught through me the alphabet of freedom. 
Although they may have carried their cause, however, by this 
betrayal of the principles of liberty, they did not destroy or 
paralyze the advocate, whom they failed to answer, and as I 
have already remarked, that in other cases my opinions have 
been fully vindicated in the end, so I may now add here, that 
when within two or three years afterwards I was called upon to 
defend the people of this county against the same charge, in the 
Legislature of this State, the answer I gave drew from the Phil- 
adelphia Ledger, the leading commercial paper of that city, 
and the one which had perhaps found most fault with me, the 
following honorable and manly acknowledgment, cut out and 
forwarded to me by a friend, which is one of many that 
have followed the misrepresentations of the hour, from my 
antagonists themselves, in almost every important passage of a 
life that has brought me into frequent conflict with opinions 
which I never hesitated to question, without regard to their 
effect upon myself. 

"Mr. Williams made a reply, which for power, eloquence and 
able reasoning, is seldom excelled in any legislative body. The 
bold stand he takes for the right, and authority of the people 
over their own property, and against unconstitutional enactments, 
which would deprive them of it, is worthy of Patrick Henry himself. 
It is rare that such speeches are heard in the Legislature of this 
State. If there were more of the same spirit, and the same recur- 
rence to fundamental principles of popular rights, which underlie 
all constitutions, we should not have the Legislature so frequently 
usurping power not delegated to it by the constitution, nor courts 
coming in conflict with public sentiment, founded upon common 
sense, common honesty, and common liberty. Hitherto we have 
differed from Mr. Williams in regard to the obligation upon 
Allegheny to pay the bonds it issued, because they were issued 
under the forms of law by legally authorized persons. But there 
is no logic like the logic of facts, and the most certain way of seeing 
the force and bearing of a principle is to have it applied to one's 
self. The city of Philadelphia would this day have had three millions 



384 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

of dollars added to its present debt by the act of its County 
Commissioners, in lending that amount out of the County Treasury 
to the Sunbury and Erie Railroad, if the timely interposition of the 
people in town meeting had not stopped their usurped authority. 
In fact, radical and fundamental principles of right, when wrested 
by power from the people, are always stolen from them under the 
forms of law, and for the peace and security of society, there ought 
to be some remedy short of revolution to arrest acts of unauthorized 
power." 

And yet there are men even at this day in the Councils of 
Pittsburgh, thinking no harm themselves in using their public 
trusts by creating new and enormous burdens, only to serve their 
private interests, who have the courage to tell the people of 
Allegheny county, who saved so largely by the result of that 
struggle, that they not only lost three fiiillions and a half, but 
their characters for all time along with it, by their defender and 
defense ! 

It was only, however, as a consequence of this obstinate and 
determined resistance, aided as it was by the Councils and Com- 
missioners, under the direction of the people, whom I am 
charged with having mislead, in their refusal to levy taxes to 
pay this alleged debt, that the holders of the bonds were brought 
to see, that, though the Courts might unjustly help them, the 
expenses of repeated suits for interest against a reluctant and 
resisting debtor, were fatal to the value of their securities, and 
that the best thing they could do was to compromise the claims. 
That I ever objected, however, to a compromise, is just as gra- 
tuitous a statement as the others. It was precisely what I aimed 
at from the moment that it became apparent that the constitu- 
tionality of the laws would be sustained by the Supreme 
Court, and there was a time when I thought, that if the adjust- 
ment had been left with me, I could have accomplished it at 
forty cents on the dollar. When it was made, I was not con- 
sulted as to its terms. To say, however, that it depended only 
en a resolution of the Councils to do this at any time, as though 
they were the masters of the situation, is to state what everybody 
who had anything to do with the matter, knows to be untrue. 
All they were able to accomplish at last was brought about 
through my unpaid agency. If you doubt it, turn to the files 
of your own paper, about three years back, and you will find an 
article from Forney's Press, covering, under the thin disguise of 
a distinction of personalities between a lawyer of the same name 
here — much younger and much less known to the profession and 
the people — and myself, an attack on me, inspired obviously by 
the idea that it might help himself in some of his rather unfor- 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 385 

lunate political aspirations, of which the burden was, that / had 
robbed the virtuous bond-holders of twenty-five per cent, of their 
money, by coercing them into a compromise. Other newspapers 
of my own city, it is true, were insisting about the same time, 
that I had added to the debt ; and it is evident that there are 
credulous people in these communities, who have been weak 
enough to swallow such absurdities, although the result shows 
in figures, that, in some way or other, the city of Pittsburgh 
alone, instead of losing money by that controversy, has saved 
over a million and a quarter in interest, without reckoning on the 
additional rate which must have attended the renewal of the 
bonds under the happy auspices of consolidation. It is not to 
be wondered, perhaps, that the people were credulous, when the 
very inventors themselves seem to have become the dupes of 
their own falsehood. It was fortunate, perhaps, for me that they 
went no farther. At the same rate of progression, in a few 
years more they would have been prepared to swear, that I had 
not only added to the debt, but made it. You must agree, I think, 
that it is a curious fortune and a singular reward for disinter- 
ested services to this community, that one of its oldest citizens, 
dating his interests back to its foundation — holding an honorable 
position at its bar — representing its people in their highest legis- 
lative trusts in State and nation, with no obscure record in 
either to discredit them — and without impeachment of his intel- 
ligence or integrity in any position where they have ever placed 
him — should be charged abroad with having robbed the bond- 
holder, and at home with having robbed the people whose cause 
he was defending without reward, and for whose sake he had 
incurred all the obloquy that the money power, with all its 
mighty machinery of detraction, could heap upon him. If he 
had been a citizen of Philadelphia, with a like professional and 
public record, I doubt whether there is a newspaper there that 
would have allowed him to be thus assailed with impunity. 
Whatever may be the faults of that city, her people have one 
virtue at least, and that is to stand by their own men. There 
is little of that pride, unfortunately, here. We seem to prefer 
to disparage ours, although they may have been the peers in the 
forum, and in the legislative halls of the State and nation, of the 
best of her own, who have been commissioned to speak for her 
in either. I am not sure that there are not manufacturers of 
public opinion here that would have stoned the prophets, if they 
had been reared amongst us, or that, if there had been an 
Aristides in this county, he would have fared any better than him 
of Athens. Nor do I say this with any feeling that I have been 
undervalued myself. The people of this county have valued me 



386 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

quite as highly as I deserved. They have so often honored me 
with their confidence, as to have left me nothing further to 
desire on that score. If I have justified that confidence by a 
performance that did not disappoint them, it is enough for me. 
I think I may flatter myself that, w^ith those who know me, it 
has never been impaired by any abuse that I have received. 

But it is further said by your informant, that by the same 
advice "the city permitted her stocks to be sold at a sacrifice, 
and was left with a debt of $1,800,000, with accrued interest, 
and without a dollar to show for it in stocks or anything else, 
except experience, and suit was brought and the stocks levied 
upon." 

Here is another falsehood. I never gave any advice upon 
the subject. The stocks were not sold (as they could not be with- 
out a judgment) until a very late period, and long, I think, after 
I had ceased to have anything to do with the case — and they 
were not sold either at a sacrifice upon their value, but for all 
they were intrinsically worth, which was just nothing at all, as 
the irretrievable bankruptcy and subsequent extinction of both the 
Steubenville and Chartiers, covering nearly one-half the amount, 
show clearly as to them. The investments were absolutely sunk 
and lost and not considered by anybody as worth looking after, 
when the city conveyed away its gas stocks to protect them. It 
was not, however, intended to withdraw the railroad stocks from 
the pursuit of the creditor. To have repudiated the bonds, and 
yet insisted on holding on to the stocks, which had been 
exchanged for them, would have been not only inconsistent, but 
dishonest. To them, at least, it was conceded on all hands that 
the creditor was entitled. It was not till he had established his 
claims in the Courts that the city could properly deal with them 
as her own. When that happened, they were still worthless, 
and could only have been saved by shouldering the whole debt. 

Inasmuch as I left the bar, and passed into public life as 
early as January, i860, I know little or nothing about the history 
of the sales, or the subsequent transfers of the stocks, except 
that I thought when I heard of the former, that the process was 
irregular, and always doubted whether any titles had passed 
thereby to the purchasers. It may be that the subsequent pro- 
ceedings to reclaim some of them were founded on this objection. 
I know nothing about it. If any portion of this great wreck was 
subsequently saved by Mr. Phillips, as is claimed, it was no more 
than was his duty, if he was one of those who helped to make the 
debt, and assured the people that it was no more than a loan of 
credit. I have not heard, however, that he or anybody else, 
except perhaps myself, has lost any money by disinterested serv- 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 38/ 

ices to these communities ; and, while I am wilHng to accord to 
him all reasonable praise for any thing he may have done, I 
would fain hope that, for his own sake, he will not cancel the 
obligation many times over, by even a greater and less pardona- 
ble blunder than that of the Railroad Councils of 1853, in 
trebling our present city debt for objects that are entirely unnec- 
essary. Your reporter is made to say that '"the city was left 
with a debt of $1,800,000 and accrued interest on account of 
railroad stocks, and not a dollar in stocks or anything else but 
experience to show for it." The city was no worse off after 
these stocks were sold, than she was before. She has, however, 
as it is confessed, the experience still left, and if she will only 
profit by this residuary fund, it may be still worth all that she 
has lost. It seems, however, as though the folly of the Councils 
is to be repeated under cover, perhaps, of the exaltation of 
others connected with the attack on me. An old proverb says 
"it would take a hard winter to kill off all the fools." There are 
some people who never learn, but there is no experience hard 
enough to kill off a much worse class. 

It is urged, however, by your informant that "the city could 
have saved her credit, and with it thousands of dollars," by 
shouldering the debt and keeping the stocks in question. 

Nothing is clearer, however, than the fact that her credit 
did not suft'er at all, as is shown conclusively by the extension 
of the time, and the reduction of the interest to four per 
cent. Consolidation has brought it up to seven, and promises to 
carry it still further, and yet members of Councils who do not 
object to exaltation at my expense, think that it is still good 
enough to authorize them to add five or six millions of debt 
for unnecessary water works, and a park that will cost a million 
for embellishment, and the interest of another million annually, 
to light, and watch, and keep it in repair. Surely it does not 
become such gentlemen to say that the credit of the city was 
lost under my auspices in 1863, or that it might have been saved 
by increasing its debt, and renewing it now at the new consolida- 
tion rate, unless they think, as seems probable from their present 
action, that the bigger the debt and the larger the interest, the 
higher will be the credit of the corporation. 

But then, if it did not save its credit, your readers are told 
that it would at least have saved thousands of dollars ! 

Well, it did save, not thousands, but over a million and a 
quarter, by the compromise. Was this too much? Ought it to 
have thrown all this away for the sake of thousands? 

But how was it to save these thousands? Why — as I have 
seen it seriously argued, somewhere — by taking the stocks as 



300 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

they are now, and reasoning backzvard about ten years, just like 
the simpleton, who now complains, that if he had not sold his 
property ten years ago for all it was worth, or ever likely to be 
worth thereafter, he might have been a millionaire. But how 
would even this have resulted in the present case. The $700,000 
subscribed to the Steubenville and Chartiers, are absolutely sunk 
and extinguished. But then the Connellsville and the Allegheny 
Valley Roads have been revived and prosecuted to completion, 
so that their stocks have now a speculative value of some sort, 
at least, although I have never heard that it rests upon any 
dividends that they have paid, or are likely to pay in the near 
future, that could have made it an object to hold them indefi- 
nitely at a six per cent, interest. Well, be it so. But how did 
they come to quicken into new life ? Just because they first died 
to us, as their proprietors. With our money squandered and lost, 
and no work done to speak of, it was an essential condition of 
their resurrection, that they should pass, at a merely nominal 
price, into other hands. It was idle and vmreasonable to expect 
that with perhaps a million's worth of work done upon nearly 
two millions and a half of bonds, any third persons would be 
found generous enough to step in and finish them at their own 
cost and risk, and allow us, the almost sole proprietors, to reap 
the whole advantage of it. If we had retained the stocks, the 
works in question would have been unfinished now. They were 
taken up and completed by the same process as the now invalua- 
ble Monongahela Improvement, which, under my own advice, was 
saved by a few liberal and long-sighted gentlemen here, through 
a previous bankruptcy which enabled them to get in the old 
stocks, and to make fortunes, as they deserved, out of a then 
abandoned enterprise. Nothing is clearer now than that, under 
the circumstances, the very best bargain the city and county 
could have made, would have been to donate their stocks to any 
third parties who would have agreed to finish the roads. To 
have staked a million and a quarter for their preservation, with- 
out the remotest hope of a dollar of dividends, and with the 
moral certainty that by enacting the part of the dog in the 
manger in holding them, the roads could never be finished, would 
have been about as sensible an operation as some of the big jobs 
that are now occupying the attention of the Councils. I hope 
they will not be asked to repurchase them on speculation for the 
endowment of the Park, which has been promised to the people 
for nothing, if they would only agree to put up half a million on 
the venture. 

Your reporter is made to say that the fees of the bondholders' 
attorneys were estimated at $60,000 or $70,000, which is not, 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 389 

probably, above the mark. It might have been as well perhaps 
to have informed the people, how^ much it cost the city in that 
way for its defence. Its own counsel, with a practice as large 
and as widely diffused as that of any other professional man in 
the State, was in equal condition, as every lawyer here knows, to 
choose his side. Did he take the paying one ? When applied to 
by the President of one of the largest of these roads, to take 
charge of its professional business, his answer was that his 
services could not be purchased where they might bind him to 
give countenance, even by his silence, to the robbery of the 
people. When he tried the first of these causes before Judge 
Grier, he was twitted by Judge Shaler, who was of counsel with 
the late Secretary Stanton, for the claimants, with the remark 
that for all the immense labor he had given to the discussion of 
this question in the Courts, and through the Press, he would 
never be paid, or even thanked. There are men here who still 
remember that in the very heat of the conflict, he prefigured the 
same result himself, along with obloquy abroad — but not at 
home. His answer was, that however it might be with others, 
it was not a question of either pay or thanks with him, when the 
liberties of a people were staked upon the issue. It was the same- 
answer in effect which he gave to the same Secretary, about two 
years afterwards, when, after telegraphing to him, as he did, 
within a very few days after his appointment, to repair at once 
to Washington in order that he might confer with him upon the 
state of the nation, and some of the great questions of public 
law that were evolved out of the war, and detaining him a week 
for that object, he addressed a note to him, suggesting that the 
Government was able to pay, and could not expect his services 
for nothing, and asking him to make out his bill against it. 
That answer was that the Government owed him nothing; that 
it wanted all its money for its soldiers; and that he would con- 
sider himself well paid for any little service he might have been 
able to render to it, if the nation could be saved. Judge Grier 
was pleased to volunteer the further answer himself that "if Mr. 
Williams should charge the city of Pittsburgh the sum of $10,000 
or $20,000 for his services, and would call upon him as a witness 
—as it was a case he could not try — he might rely on him to 
prove that he had richly earned every dollar of it." He never 
received from either city or county, even the amount of his per- 
sonal expenses, and never asked them to pay him, although he 
had appeared to perhaps fifty cases, had tried and argued many 
of them in the State and Federal Courts— some at Philadelphia 
and Harrisburg— and had ended by turning his back upon a 
tribunal before which he was one of the largest practitioners, 



390 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

because, as then organized, it had lost his confidence and respect. 
He did not ask them to pay him, because he thought the people 
had burdens enough already, and that he could afford to serve 
them in such a cause for nothing. There are men now in 
Councils — and leading one too — ignorant enough to think he 
made the railroad debt, who would waste the sum upon a din- 
ner, and quadruple that debt without a scruple at a single sitting, 
upon a pair of jobs with even less to recommend or excuse them. 
Judge Shaler proved to have been a prophet. His vision, how- 
ever, did not carry him far enough to see, that the man who 
was capable of all these sacrifices, and had been maligned abroad, 
as few other perhaps have been, for the faithful performance of 
a high professional and public duty, was to receive his reward 
only in calumny at home. 

Honest people who are unfamiliar with these facts, as are 
perhaps three-fourths of the present population of these com- 
munities, who read the newspapers and are in the habit of taking 
their statements upon trust, will not be more greatly amazed at 
the effrontery that would venture to falsify a record that is yet 
so fresh, than they will find it difificult to realize, that such a 
recompense was possible in the face of such a service. Few 
perhaps would have believed that a professional man, holding 
the same position as myself, and not overlargely endowed with 
the world's goods either, would have put aside the mere lawyer, 
and turned his back upon the emoluments of his profession, to 
do battle unrewarded, in the defence of a great principle of pub- 
lic liberty. Some there may be who are incapable of apprecia- 
ting the merits of such a sacrifice, and think no harm in paying 
such quixotism, as they would no doubt call it, back with slander. 
For myself, I have to say that I have never followed the law 
upon any of the baser motives that have been so liberally 
imputed even to the most honorable of the profession. As one 
of the humblest ministers at the high altar of justice, I have 
never consciously espoused an unjust cause, or abandoned a just 
one. In defending the people in the railroad bond cases, I was 
not only defending the cause of public and private morals, but 
those elementary principles of public freedom, without which 
no State can be secure. In my public capacity, where my name 
stands intimately associated with much of the legislation and 
some of the most memorable passages in the history of the State 
and nation, the people know whether I was true and constant, 
and v/hether they had any reason to be ashamed of the way I 
served them. In my private walks as a citizen, they have had no 
advice from me that ever did them injury. If they had listened 
when I spoke, there would have been no railroad debt. In taking 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 39I 

my advice to resist injustice and tyranny, they saved millions in 
interest. If they had heeded my warnings the best street in the 
city, which is now encumbered and well nigh ruined, would have 
been, like their treasury, at this day free. If they had regarded 
my prophecies of only three or four years since — already verified 
to the letter — they would have avoided the rocks on which they 
are now driving with such headlong impetuosity. When the 
vessel strikes again, they will, perhaps, regret, as they did before, 
that they did not take advice from a friend who never deceived 
them. I trust that in the future they will find no worse coun- 
sellors than myself. 

Thos. Williams. 
Allegheny, August 17, 1871. 

So with this letter that phase of the railway war may 
be counted closed, except that, in passing-, it may be 
noted that the amendment of 1857 was carried over into 
the present Constitution, and when, in the convention 
that formed it, some one ventured to reflect on Pittsburgh 
on this score, the city and her course received such a 
splendid defense at the hands of the late Judge J. W. F. 
White as any city or man could desire.^ It is only that 
particular phase of the railway war, however, that was 
closed. The success of Mr. Williams in rousing senti- 
ment, not only in Pittsburgh, but elsewhere over the 
State, precipitated a still more extensive fight to be car- 
ried out, this time in the halls at Harrisburg. And, 
now, while preparations were making for this contest, 
there joined it, with most unexpected and appalling de- 
velopments, as shall be seen, the stupendous series of 
events inaugurated by the national executive com- 
mittee of the Republican party, when they met in New 
York and voted that the member from Pennsylvania, Mr. 
Williams, should write a call for a national convention, 
to meet at Chicago in June, i860, to nominate candidates 



'"Constitutional Convention Debates,' 1872-73, Vol \ I, f/. ^^S- If they 
knew the history of that matter," sa.d he, "they would know this That ther^ 
were certain railroad bonds which were fraudulently put m the market and 
sold in violation of the law under which they were issued; and " P'ace o 
being sold as the law required, for very nearly par, they .^^ere parted with a 
less than one-half the face of the bonds; and we h°ught m A legheny count> 
when the bondholders had got those bonds '" violation of t^^. '^^^ V ^'^^^ °3* 
to get merely what they had paid on those bonds, ,'5ecause they had become 
parties to the violation of the law. when they P^/chased the bonds n the 
very teeth of the act of Assembly." "If gentlemen knew what they were talking 
about thev would know that neither Allegheny county n°J. t'l%^''y -^^^ l^'""' 
burgh ever did repudiate any debt." "Never tried to repudiate anythmg. 



392 THOMAS WILLIAMS 

for the highest offices in the land.^ He went to Wash- 
ington where Douglas and Jefferson Davis were occupy- 
ing the time of the Senate, and the House was in the 
throes of a deadlock over the Speakership, in which an 
opposition was trying to prevent John Sherman's election 
in a most violent partisan conflict, because, among other 
things, he once recommended Helper's "Impending 
Crisis." "It was," said Mr. Williams in a speech not 
long after, "in the very midst of the tempest and fury 
of denunciation on the floor of Congress, and while the 
Council Chamber of the Nation was ringing with the 
treason, which the galleries were applauding to the echo, 
that the invocation to the friends of the Union, which is 
to be found in the call that gathered the people together 
at Chicago, was penned by my own hand."- 

The call appeared in Mr. Greeley's paper on the morn- 
ing of December 23d (1859). "A National Republican 
Convention," it began, "will meet at Chicago on Wednes- 
day the 13th day of June next at 12 o'clock (noon), for the 
nomination of candidates to be supported for President and 
Vice President at the next election. 

"The Republican electors of the several States, the 
members of the People's party of Pennsylvania, and of 
the Opposition party of New Jersey, and all others who 
are willing to cooperate with them in support of the 
candidates who shall then be nominated, and who are 
opposed to the policy of the present administration; 
to Federal corruption and usurpation; to the extension 
of Slavery into the Territories; to the new and dan- 
gerous political doctrine that the Constitution, of its own 
force, carries Slavery into all the Territories of the United 
States; to the reopening of the African slave trade; to 
any inequality of rights among citizens ; and who are in 
favor of the immediate admission of Kansas into the 



* In a letter dated Philadelphia, December 23, 1859, Mr. Williams writes his 
wife: "I arrived safely in New York on Tuesday, about one o'clock & left 
that place on my return at six last (Thursday) evening, which brought me here 
about ten o'clock at night. You may take it for granted therefore that I saw 
very little of New York. The business of the Committee was such as to engage 
my whole time. When it adjourned which was about 2 o'clock yesterday, I 
crossed the Park to the Tribune and Century Offices, which are just about 
150 yds from the Astor House, where I stopped, & that was just the extent of 
my perambulations in New York." 

^ "The Negro in American Politics," a speech delivered in i860, p. 34. 
Williams papers. 



REPUBLICAN AWAKENING AND RAILWAY WARFARE 393 

Union under the Constitution recently adopted by its 
people ; of restoring the Federal Administration to a 
system of rigid economy, and to the principles of Wash- 
ington and Jefferson ; of maintaining inviolate the rights 
of the States, and defending the soil of every State and 
Territory from lawless invasion ; and of preserving the 
integrity of this Union, and the supremacy of the Con- 
stitution and laws passed in pursuance thereof against 
the conspiracy of the leaders of a sectional party to resist 
the majority principle as established in this Govern- 
ment at the expense of its existence are invited to send 
from each State two delegates from every Congressional 
District and four delegates-at-large to the Convention."^ 
This was a call, said Mr. Williams, that proposed 
above all else that "the Union must and shall be pre- 
served." This "was the dominating thought with me," 
he added, "as it was, I believe, with every member of 
the committee." Such was the call out of which flowed 
a stream of events of such magnitude as the world had 
never beheld.^ 



1 It is probable that Mr. Williams had brought this already prepared to 
the meeting of the national executive committee at the Astor House, New 
York on December 21, 1859. for he writes a letter from Philadelphia to his wife 
on the 23d, the very day it appeared in the New York Tribune, and the com- 
mittee had adjourned only at 2 o'clock the day before. The previous preparation 
of a call to offer to the committee would be wholly in keeping with Mr. Wil- 
liams' habits. He had had much experience in public appeals, as will be 
recalled. The paper was signed by Messrs. Morgan. Bartlett, Fogg, Brainerd, 
Goodrich, Chace, Wells, Williams, Harris, Caldwell, Snooner, Clay, Ritchie, 
tudd Chandler, Tweedy, Ramsev, Stevens (not Thaddeus), Jones, Conway 
and Clephane. They debated a long time on the call before this one was 
adopted. Eleven cities wanted the convention, and St. Louis, which was favored 
for a time, was "finally judged as inconvenient as West of nineteen-twentieths 
of the delegates;" so Chicago was chosen. 

2 On the 2Sth the Tribune correspondent at Washington said: "The call 
issued by the Republican National Committee for a Convention is generally 
acceptable here, and relieves all points of embarrassment." See files of the 
New York Tribune in the Astor Library, New York. 



0CT 2B 



